Shadow of Nothing
by Darkness9994
Summary: This story has been on hold for almost 4 years. Please be patient. I had an amazingly bad case of writers block and never came back to the story. I will reread it then continue. Check back in a few weeks.
1. Chapter 1

A warm breeze blew through the streets, causing the leaves and grass to sway with its gentle motion. The only sounds being made were coming from the rustle of the leaves in the wind. The early morning town appeared so peaceful, so tranquil. Yet, amongst all this calm peaceful settings sat a lone figure that was anything but peaceful.

He sat stop a high rise building. His legs dangling over the edge, there was nothing holding him from making the ten story plunge, if he wasn't careful. However this young man wasn't worried about the height. He was staring out over the town, waiting for the sun to fully rise over the distant mountains. Waiting for the beautiful sight that was an autumn dawn.

Today was both a special day; and a cursed day for this young man. Today was his eighteenth birthday. It also happened to be the eighteenth anniversary of his parent's death, let alone the anniversary of the day he was selected to become the jailor of the most powerful of all the biju. Uzumaki Naruto sat and waited to greet the day from his current position.

Today was going to be different for him. He wasn't going to hide from the villagers of Konoha. He was going to join the festivities that the villagers threw, marking the defeat of the Kyuubi no Yoko. He was going to willingly put himself in a vulnerable position, just to make his female teammate happy. Sakura asked Naruto to escort her to the festival, she knew he had never gone, and wanted nothing more than to show him around. That was Sakura, always trying to show Naruto what he had been missing in his life. Sometimes he found himself thinking that she wasn't showing him things he missed, but showing off that she was now with him.

It was over six months earlier that the kunoichi professed her feelings for her blonde teammate. She didn't want him to be alone any longer, and it was her that had taken the step to furthering their relationship. Naruto still had trouble believing that the girl of his dreams had asked him out on their first date. He was even more surprised when she picked the places to go. A dinner at his favorite ramen stand, and then a walk through the village. Besides having to go to the kyubi festival, Naruto's life was turning out just the way he wanted it.

By the age of sixteen he had been promoted to the rank of chunin. He didn't spend much time there either, by the fall of the same year he had proven himself time and time again, and had been given the rank of jounin. Not many people were surprised by this however, seeing as how Naruto had been able to go toe to toe with the elite jounins for quite some time. It was even rumored that Naruto was in fact the strongest shinobi alive. He had single handedly killed four of the nine members of Akatsuki, including their leader Pein, and the founder Uchiha Madara. On top of that he had uncovered the plot created by Danzo to try and usurp power in Konoha. These deeds led many of the villagers to change their views about the hyperactive blonde; a few of these individuals had seats on the village's council.

The sun's glare broke over the mountains; Naruto stood up and left his lone perch. He had a meeting with Tsunade to get to, and for once he decided to begin the day by not trying to upset the female Hokage. Yet he still had a feeling that no matter what he did, she was going to be in a rather foul mood. Still he wanted to get his work out of the way as soon as possible, and if that meant showing up early for his meeting, and even showing the older female some respect, then he'd do it. That way he'd have more time later in the day to spend with his girlfriend. He continued his path straight for the Hokages tower. He knew that something was going to happen today, he was just praying that it wasn't bad.

Naruto calmly entered the Hokages office, and was greeted to sight that he hadn't seen in a while. Tsunade had forsaken her daily morning sake, and had begun to deal with the stacks of paper work that littered her desk. He decided to break the new routine. "Good_ morning Hokage-sama." _His simple greeting was more than enough to catch the attention of the voluptuous older female before him.

_ " Naruto, you're early. Don't think that by showing up like this, let alone being respectful is going to get you anywhere with me you brat." _Tsunade stopped her paper work and peered at the younger blonde's reaction. If she knew him well enough he was going to go into a tirade about how he was being nice, and that her reaction was rude. She'd bet her months budget of sake money on it.

Naruto however just smiled at his superior, he knew what she was trying to do; she was putting him on the spot. For years Naruto had known that certain people tried to push his buttons, Tsunade was known to push him in ways that would have him spouting obscenities. He also knew that she sometimes did this to relieve herself of pent up aggression and stress, what better way to do both then to pound it out on someone. Above all that however he knew he wasn't called the number one unpredictable ninja without cause. " _Aww Tsunade-sama, that's not fair." _He decided to shock his superior, and not let her get her way. _"I wasn't trying to get anything from you. I just wanted to be here early, you know take some initiative, and maybe get through our meeting early." _He finished his comments with a pout, but quickly turned it to a smile. Oh he knew his next comment was either going to make or break him, but being Uzumaki Naruto, Number one unpredictable ninja, he just had to take the risk. _Besides Tsunade-sama, if I wanted to get anywhere with you on a good footing, I wouldn't act formal. No I'd just pull out a bottle of sake and pour you a glass." _

The older Blondes face lost some of its color. She hadn't expected him to remain calm, let alone take a cheap shot by pointing out her major weakness. The veins on her forehead began to pop, the older woman couldn't believe he had just insulted her, and he did it in a manner that showed he knew just how to play her. She couldn't let it stand, there was no way this young man was going to get away what he just said. She stood up from her seat, ready to throttle the life out of him. She just didn't expect the next words out of his mouth.

_ "Besides Tsunade-sama, is it really wrong of me to want to spend a little more time with one of the people I respect the most, in a manner that doesn't end with violence." _That had done it; his last comment had stopped her dead in her tracks. Here she was about to knock the brat into next week, and he went and said something like that.

She stared at him for a few seconds, his smile, his eyes, the way he held himself so confidently. She had seen this before, and knew exactly where he had picked up this slight bit of charm. _"You have guts brat. Don't think for one second that charm of yours is going to work on me." _She crossed her arms and stared at him, silently comparing the young man in front of her, with her former team mate. _"But I'll give you credit, not many people could talk like that to me and get away without getting a bruise or two."_

Naruto laughed hard at her comment. He knew that she was thinking of his former sensei, the man who had taught him exactly how to manipulate words and sooth a woman from her angered state. Naruto also knew that Jiraiya never used those lessons on Tsunade, to him the only way he wanted to see his former team mate, was in the way he had grown up with her.

"Alright brat, you've got some verbal skills, I will give you that. Just remember, you may not always get the chance to smooth out what you say, and you know for a fact I am going easy on you, compared to some girls you know. Especially one with rosette hair." Tsunade smirked as she once again saw the color leave Narutos face. It brought a smile to her lips, as she watched him cringe from the thoughts of a verbal lashing from his girlfriend.

"Now, about the reason you're here." Her tone getting more level and serious. "I want you to be careful today. I know that Sakura is taking you to the festival, but I still want you to be on guard, not everyone in this village has accepted you yet; and some that have may still hold ill will towards you today." She sighed, knowing that a few prominent citizens had publically promised to attack Naruto on sight if he set foot in the festival area. While she knew he was without a doubt the strongest person in the village, she still worried for his safety. The boy was known for not fighting back against the villagers, and she was afraid that this may be the case if things turned south during the festivities.

"Come on Baa-chan, you worry too much. I'll have Sakura by my side today, and we all know how scary she can get." Naruto shuddered as he thought of what his girlfriend would do to anyone that ruined her night including him. "Besides, I know that if someone ruins this for her, it's going to be either them or me that ends up in the hospital." He chuckled at his comment.

"What do you mean by you may end up in the hospital?" Tsunade was truly confused by the blonde's statement.

Naruto laughed again as he explained himself. "Who do you think is going to get between Sakura and her target? Me that's who, and we both know that she'll swing without worrying if I'm in the way or not." His comment brought more on more shudders. "Sometimes I think she enjoys being that violent." Naruto began to rub his chin as he pondered his words, which only cause Tsunade to laugh at his thoughtful expressions.

"Ok kid, that's all I have to say to you, now get out of my office, I have work to do."

Naruto couldn't help himself, he saw her movement towards her desk, and he reacted. Before the female knew what had happened Naruto was out of the office and running away at full speed, laughing the entire time.

The Hokage had no idea what brought on the sudden childish outburst, but quickly came to an understanding when she opened her desk drawer. "You little bastard" she screamed out her window at him. "That's the last bottle of sake in my office; I'm going to kick your ass Naruto." She could hear his laughing as he disappeared into the village.


	2. chapter 2

Naruto sped off through the town. He had gotten through his meeting with Tsunade quicker than he had anticipated. While leaving the Older Kunoichis office he decided that he could get in a quick bit of training before he had to meet up with his girlfriend. He took a quick detour, and changed the direction he was heading, instead of going to his house he sped towards training ground nine. He hoped that there would be a couple of shinobi there at this time.

He wasn't too surprised to hear shouting coming from his impending destination. Just like he had hoped, the two taijutsu masters had already begun their morning routines. Maito Gai, and Rock Lee, were above all else extremely determined, and nothing showed this more than their strict and intense workouts. On occasion Naruto joined the pair to work on his fighting techniques, and further enhance his speed and stamina. Today he decided he might be able to convince the pair to run some laps around the village.

He found the two members of team Gai in a clearing; apparently they were taking a quick break from their workout, and were drinking water from a canteen. A lot of people were put off by how these two men acted, but Naruto knew that what others called insanity, these two called youth. He was impressed by their drive to reach perfection in whatever they could do, and was even more taken aback by what they did to accomplish such goals. These two men were known to be intense, and constantly turned the impossible to the possible. Lee was fast enough to get from Konoha to Suna and back in a three day period. For most the trip at high speeds too at least five days round trip.

Naruto entered the clearing, and was greeted by his outgoing friend. "Naruto-kun, what do we owe the pleasure of your presence? Do you wish to have a friendly spar to test your flames of youth?" As always Lee wanted to have a quick bout with the blonde male in front of him. Naruto couldn't blame him either; they had for all intents and purposes taken on the rivalry of their senseis. The only difference between these younger rivals was that Naruto took this rivalry serious, unlike his one eyed teacher.

Naruto laughed at the request, but not in a demeaning fashion. "Sorry bushy brows, I don't want to fight you today." He watched Lees face take on a depressed expression. Not wanting to hurt his friend's feelings Naruto quickly thought of a way to cheer up his self proclaimed rival. "Sorry Lee, maybe next time. Besides you know I always look forward to a bout with you. Today's kind of different." Lee perked up at his friends' response. "Anyways I came to ask you, and Gai-sensei if I could do a couple of laps with you guys. You know, a bit of light training."

Lees face took on an ecstatic appearance. "Of course, my friend. We can run as long as you like." It was at this point that Lee took on his nice guy pose. "We will run and show the village how brightly our flames of youth burn."

"That's right Lee, the three of us can prove our prowess to anyone we meet along the way." Gai, also performed his nice guy pose. Naruto knew what was coming next, and over the years had begun to find it hilarious instead of disturbing like the other ninja.

"Lee"

"Gai-sensei"

Naruto began laughing as the sunset formed behind his two friends. This display always cheered him up. Who else besides these two martial arts masters could summon a sunset, and cry at the same time. All the while smiling brighter than anything on the planet.

"Ok you two, I just want to do two quick laps around the village. Nothing more, is that ok?"

Lee looked at his friend and smiled again. "That's fine Naruto-kun. If we can't do two laps, then I will walk around Konoha on my hands for an entire day!" Lee was overjoyed to say the least.

"If you can't do that Lee then I will climb the Hokage Mountain using just my pinkies." Gai said with a confident look.

"If you fail at that sensei, then I will do a thousand pushups, on just my index fingers!" The scene was getting a little out of hand, but Naruto knew what was about to come next, and couldn't help but smile.

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

With a smile on his face Naruto began to sprint away, quickly calling over his shoulder. "Hey if you two are done, let's get going, I only have about two hours!" Naruto knew this would grab their attention, so he just kept running. It was only a matter of seconds before the two green clad men caught up to him. Not surprising they kept their pace with him without any problems.

Months before Narrator had learned exactly how far Lee had come since their days as genie. It was during a normal spar that he decided to push both his and Lee's limits.

Flash Back

He had asked lee simply to remove the weights he had hidden in his leg warmers. Lee being who he was obliged his friend.

What Naruto hadn't expected was the amazing increase in speed, and power. It had taken him every bit of energy he had to be able to block anything Lee threw at him. After only a few minutes Naruto was losing and fast, he could only block about one hit for every twenty five that were thrown at him. Lee wasn't holding back, and he didn't notice that Naruto had begun to black out. It was at that point something inside him snapped.

Lee was shocked to see that his friend's eyes had changed in color. Let alone that his pupil had elongated and looked almost feline in appearance. Even with the change in his friends appearance Lee continued his assault, he figured if it was too much his youthful rival would say something. He wasn't expecting what had happened next.

Narutos body was surrounded by a red aura. His hair began to look rougher, while his nails and teeth elongated. The young man had an almost feral look to him. He began to fight back against Lee, pushing himself forward. They started to trade blows on an almost even level. Lee still had the upper hand in the match; his speed was just over taking Naruto. Even in his berserker state Naruto wasn't able to match speed with his friend. Yet he wasn't willing to give up either, it was his choice to have Lee take off his weights, and he wasn't going to stop now, not until he was able to prove he could handle a real fight with his friend. He stepped up his chakra output, and wasn't surprised to feel one tail swishing behind him.

Lee had heard stories of Narutos powers, and now he was seeing them first hand. While most ninja would have been scared out of their minds, Lee was enjoying himself. Here in front of his eyes, his rival was pushing himself, releasing a power that only a select few had ever seen. He was trying to give Lee an even fight, and Lee was going to give Naruto the same respect, he too was going to go all out.

Naruto Knew he had to stop, he didn't want to continue the spar, but something in him wanted to keep going. Some unknown urge wanted him to press on. He kept going, nothing short of exhaustion from either him or Lee was going to stop this. He felt the second tail forming, and still he was in complete control. Something about this fight was keeping Naruto from losing himself, but was still allowing him to tap into the near limitless power of the Kyubi.

Lee Watched with a smile as the second tail formed behind his rival. He knew this match was going to draw some attention now, since both him and his friend were emitting high levels of power. It was then he decided to take the match to a new level. "Naruto-kun, I know you can go further than this, and you know I can as well." Lee stood straight up. The action caused Naruto to stop in his tracks. He began to smile. He knew exactly what Lee was about to do. He watched in anticipation as Lee began to unlock six of his inner gates.

Lee's skin turned a deep red, and his eyes glazed over. Naruto had seen this once before during the chunin exams when Lee fought against Gaara. He knew that this match was about to reach a whole new level. His fight against Sasuke at the valley of the end wouldn't be able to compare to this friendly bout that was going on. Lee took off straight at Naruto with speed that could barely be tracked. Naruto knew his two tail form wasn't going to cut it against his friend. He formed two shadow clones to distract his friend for a few seconds, that way he could allow the third tail to form.

Lee dispatched both the clones with ease, and turned his attention back towards the original Naruto. The fight was about to reach it's pinnacle. Both men raced straight towards each other and began trading blows. The force of the attacks rippled through the air sounding like thunder. Both knew this wouldn't last long, Lee was still too fast for Naruto to handle, but Narutos hits had more force behind them.

It wasn't long till both figures were slowing down due to fatigue. The pair knew the fight was winding down. They had been going for near an hour, and everyone had their limits. The two men ran at each other one last time, fists cocked back. When they were within reach of each other they released their punches. Lee hit Naruto hard in his left shoulder, knocking the blonde of his balance. Naruto however hit Lee square in the chest right before he lost his balance. Lee was knocked back to the ground, while Naruto spun backwards due to the force of his opponents hit. The two friends laid on the ground breathing in quick spasms.

It took both of them a few minutes to regain enough energy to lift themselves from the ground. When they finally stood up they were shocked to hear the sound of clapping. The pair turned their heads to stare wide eyed at the scene in front of them. Suddenly the clapping erupted into a chorus of shouts, and applause. It seemed the entire military force of Konoha had found their way to the training ground, and a good portion of the civilian population had as well. Everyone was cheering for the sight they had just seen. Even Sakura who had shown up concerned was now laughing and cheering her two friends.

End Flashback

Naruto knew he could have won the match. He could have used ninjutsu, or he could have used another tail from the kyubi. Yet he evened out his strength with his friend, and only used one chakra draining technique. It was due to him using the shadow clone jutsu that Naruto had admitted defeat. His reason was that it wasn't a fair fight since he did something that Lee could never hope to do.

Naruto turned his head to stare at his friend. It was that day that Sakura had admitted her feelings to him. For Naruto that day was a major turning point in his life. The ninja of the village saw that he was in complete control of his powers. Their confidence in him apparently rubbing off on the civilian crowd. Naruto had Lee to thank for that. That's why he began to consider Lee as his closest friend, besides Sakura of course.

They were now making good time, in less than half an hour the trio of men had circled the village once, and they were starting another pass when Lee began to talk to Naruto. "Naruto-kun. How come you're only doing two laps today? Usually you'd disappear for the entire day." Lee didn't pull punches when it came to Naruto. He knew it was Narutos birthday, and he also knew how Naruto had been treated as a child. So he was surprised to say the least that instead of training all day in one of the numerous hidden training areas, Naruto was hear basically parading himself through the town.

Naruto looked at his feet while he was running. Lees question wasn't hard to answer, but he wanted to make sure that what he said was both the truth and satisfactory to his friend. "Well bushy brows, it's like this. Sakura wants me to escort her through the festival, and I agreed. You know I can't say no to her." Naruto raised his head and looked over at his friend. "Plus I need to stop hiding myself from this village. I'm not a five year old kid anymore, and I'm not scared of what they think they could try to do to me. I have to act like a man to get the respect that a man deserves." He smiled at that last part. He didn't know he could word his response so well on the fly.

"Yosh, Naruto-kuns Youthful answer has encouraged me to do the same! I too shall show the world that I deserve the respect of a man, through the display of my flames of youth!" Lee shouted out as they headed towards the side of town where the hospital was located.

"That was a very bright display of a man's insight Naruto-san! May your youthful vigor never wilt and fade!" Gai smiled as he continued to run. "May other try and emulate your actions and desires!"

Naruto just chuckled at the display, Lee and Gai were eccentric to say the least, but they never did or said anything to bring a person down. Because of his time hanging around with the pair, Naruto often wondered why so many people were disturbed by them. If anything he found the guys to be entertaining.

The group rounded a corner and were about to pass the hospital when Naruto caught sight of His girlfriends pink hair. "Oi! Sakura-chan!" Naruto diverged from his path to meet up with his love.

Authors notes.

Thank you everyone that reviewed the first chapter. I am goin to enjoy writing this story if the feedback keeps coming in. please if you have critisms, voice the, the only way for me to get better is to work on my downfalls.

In response to the questions will this be NaruSake, SasuSaku, or NaruIno the answer is yes to all. I can't reveal why, because it is part of my planned plot device later on. Just stick with it and you'll understand once I write those parts.

Also to answer one concern that was brought to my attention. No I do not think I am making Naruto ooc. I have set this story three years after the time skip, and I feel personally that by that point Naruto would act a bit more mature. Also on top of that I am not tampering with his personality, I am a big Narutard, and feel that I'm using his personality to it's fullest, instead of making him out to be the idiot that other people portray him as.

Also I love the Lee and Gai moments, so I had to write a chapter with a ton of them.


	3. Chapter 3

Notes. First I want to thank Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain. Your review was what I needed to write chapter 2.

To answer questions, I cannot explain to everyone one how this story is going to turn out, cause in truth I'm typing it at work every night. I will tell you this. The story I have planned in my head is going to have all three pairings that I listed. It will even have a few side pairings that I have always liked.

Once I get into the story itself I feel you will all enjoy it. So keep the comments coming.

Sakura turned to face her approaching her boyfriend. She smiled wide as she saw him running towards her. She had been nothing but jovial ever since she had asked Naruto out on their first date. She remembered it like it happened the night before. To her it was nothing major, but she knew that first date had meant the world to her boyfriend, and that alone made it important to her.

Flashback

The date had been simple enough. She had treated them both to a dinner at Ichiraku ramen. That alone put the date onto a cheerful path; Naruto had beamed when she took him straight to his favorite ramen bar. His cheerful attitude set the mood for what she had planned later on. After leaving the ramen stand, Sakura led Naruto through the village, taking him to some of the spots that she herself went to too be alone. One of the spots happened to be a hidden garden filled with different flowers, of a wide variety of colors. She walked towards the center where a group of benches were set up facing towards the perimeter of the garden. Sakura sat down and looked into the night sky, staring at the bright full moon.

Naruto sat down next to her and gazed out upon the flower. While he couldn't see the exact colors around him, he knew the sight was beautiful. He shifted to look at Sakura and upon catching the sight of her profile his heart stopped. There next to him was without a doubt the most beautiful sight. The way the light from the moon illuminated Sakura was breathtaking. Her hair had a shine that was just adding to her natural beauty. She turned to look right at him. Nothing in his mind could explain how stunning she looked.

Sakura smiled as she turned her head to Naruto. She had caught him looking at her through the corner of her eye, but nothing prepared her for the look he was giving her at that moment. It was an intense look that she felt only Naruto could pull off. In that second she saw nothing but adoration and passion. His look was bringing a blush to her face, and she couldn't keep looking into his eyes. His gaze was affecting her in ways she never thought possible, it wasn't a bad feeling, but she did feel a little embarrassed about it. She had never had anyone look at her the way Naruto was looking at her now. This was what she had always wanted in her life, to find a guy that would adore and care for her. And in that intense fleeting moment she realized that Naruto was the only one she wanted to look at her in that manner.

He had walked her home that night, and didn't push the issue for a goodnight kiss. Sakura on the other hand wasn't letting him go without something. As he turned to walk towards his house Sakura reached out and grabbed his arm. She pulled him into an embrace and kissed him on the cheek. This intimate action caused the two to blush a bright red. Naruto was speechless; he hadn't thought Sakura would ever do such a thing. As a credit to the blonde Sakura pulled him in for a real kiss. It was quick, just the two of their lips meeting, but to the pair it lasted forever. Sakura broke the kiss and bade Naruto a goodnight.

That night had gone off better then she had expected. Because of that she wasn't against going on a second date with her blonde team mate. She was hooked. Naruto did nothing that upset her; in fact everything he did was to make her happy. He was considerate, and compassionate. He was everything she had been looking for, everything she had thought that Sasuke could have been. Here was her dream man, and he had been in front of her for almost a decade. Sakura couldn't understand how she never saw Naruto for what he really was, but she didn't dwell on the past. She had the man that she was looking for, and nothing was going to tear her away from him.

End flashback

Naruto stopped just short of Sakuras reach. He was sweating a bit due to the running he had been doing up till he caught sight of her. So he kept a slight distance so as not to disgust her. "Morning Sakura. Why are you heading into the hospital? I thought you had the day off." He had a genuinely puzzled look on his face. He thought that she was going to sleep in, and then take her time to get ready. So of course he was shocked to see her getting ready to enter the hospital where she worked.

Sakura hadn't expected Naruto to be training this morning. She knew he was supposed to have had a meeting with Tsunade, and figured he would have been at her master's office for hours. So she had planned on going to the hospital to finish up some paper work. She smiled at him, and figured that the best way to go about things was to just tell him the truth. "Well, I just wanted to catch up on my paper work. Besides handsome, if I get the work done now then you'll have me for the entire night, and maybe even tomorrow morning." She gave Naruto a seductive wink and laughed a bit as he began to blush a bit. Sakura knew how to turn on the sex appeal. Although she knew that for Naruto all she had to do was smile, but it never hurt to emphasize things. "Also if I get the work done now sweetheart, then I won't have it running through my mind while we're together tonight."

To say that Naruto was excited was an understatement. He was going to enjoy the festival, even if it was something he had been against for years. Tonight he was going to be just like everyone else. He was going to partake in an event that was considered a holiday, and above all he was going to spend it with his gorgeous girlfriend. "Alright, you go get your work done, and I'm going to finish my workout. I'll meet you at your house at five, and I promise you will not be disappointed, Believe it!" Naruto gave Sakura his own version of the nice guy pose, and then turned and ran off to try and catch up with Lee and Gai.

Sakura couldn't help but giggle. Lee had rubbed off a bit on Naruto and his nice guy pose always made her laugh. He didn't look as ridiculous as Lee or Gai. In fact his foxy smile made the pose look almost as an expression of the young man's never ending self confidence and strength. All of which made Sakura feel like a young girl when he performed the stance. He had so many ways of making her happy. She could safely say that ever since she started dating the blonde that her stress levels had actually alleviated. Be it from his jovial attitude, his compassionate embrace, and his concern when she gets into a depression, and above all the way he will drop anything and rub her sore body after a hard day at the hospital. One of Sakuras favorite things about her boyfriend was his willingness to make her feel pampered. She was without a doubt spoiled by her boyfriend.

She entered the hospital and headed for her office. The room wasn't big, nor was it private. She had to share her space with another medic, which wasn't all that bad. Since the medic she shared her space with happened to be her best friend Ino Yamanaka. Sakura entered the office, and was surprised to see her friend busy at her desk. "Excuse me, Ino why are you here so early?" Sakura was genuinely shocked to see the platinum blonde working when she would usually be at home sleeping.

"Oh good morning Forehead. I figured I'd get most of my paper work done, so I could spend tonight at the festival with Shikamaru, Choji, and Temari-san." Ino returned to the paper work in front of her. The mention of her teammates wasn't surprising, but the mention of Temari confused Sakura.

"Why is Temari going with you and your team?"

"Oh that's simple, her and Shikamaru have finally decided to admit to everyone that they have been dating for over a year." Ino turned to her friend with a smile gracing her lips. "It explains why Shikamaru willingly traveled to Suna so many times without complaining about the troublesome trip. I swear that guy, hiding the fact that he got himself a good catch. I'll tell you pinky those two were made for each other, so much so I wouldn't be surprised if we hear the chapel bells before too long." Ino squealed at her last comment. "I can see it now; those two would be so cute as a married couple."

Sakura couldn't help but giggle herself. She had known there was something between Konohas laziest genius and the sands most outgoing female. Sakura was amused how those two of set each other's personalities, Shikamaru with his laid back demeanor and Temari with her loud and boisterous personality. "I'm sure you're going to have a great time tonight pig. Those two and Choji make for great company. Maybe Naruto and I will run into your little group tonight." Sakura smiled as she realized that maybe tonight her and Naruto would be able to interact with their friends during the villages biggest holiday celebration.

"Speaking of cute couples, how go things with Mr. Sunshine?" Ino was surprised the day Sakura had told her about her feelings for the hyperactive blonde. She was even more shocked when Sakura had described their first date. That was something Ino had always wanted in her life, a man that could elicit such emotions. Ino knew that Sakura loved Naruto more then she knew, and was excited to hear all the stories Sakura told her. Sometimes she fantasized that she could find a man like that. So far however the best relationship she had in the past two years was with her teammate Choji. They had dated for about four months before they decided they were better friends than lovers. It also didn't help that Choji loved to eat, And Ino loved to diet.

"He's great. He had a meeting this morning with Tsunade-shisou. She wants him to be careful tonight, you with what the festival represents. There's not much to worry about though, he's going to be with me all night, right up to the speech that Tsunade is presenting to the village. After that I'm thinking we're going to spend the night at his apartment."

Inos face lit up with excitement. "So is tonight going to be the night?" Ino leaned forwards hoping to get a bit of juicy gossip from her long time friend.

Sakura however grew beat red. She hadn't thought about it before. Her and Naruto had never talked about "it" nor did Naruto talk about the subject with her. Sakura knew that he was uncertain about that aspect of their relationship, so she didn't press it. "To be honest Ino, I hadn't thought of that. I was just planning on going to his place and cuddling."

Ino knew that her best friend was naive about the topic of sex; she also knew that Naruto had no clue about that area of the relationship. Yet as Sakuras friend she was hopeful that the two would do something. A ninja's life usually wasn't that long. "Who knows, maybe the knucklehead will pull some smooth moves with you. I've heard the way he talks to you. His words alone could melt ice at the south pole." Inos description brought another blush to Sakuras face. Who knew maybe tonight Naruto would make a move to further their relationship.


	4. Chapter 4

As always Naruto showed up a bit early. It was a habit he had picked up over the years. He knew firsthand how it felt for someone to be late, and he himself was tired of being put through that fiasco. His first teacher Kakashi had exemplified in the area of always being late. Even though Naruto knew Kakashi had a good reason for being tardy every day, it never stopped him from publically berating the silver haired jonin. It was because of his team leaders quirks that Naruto had decided to never be late for anything; if at all possible he would show up early. His plan had worked out for him since he started this behavior.

One thing people around him didn't know was that if he knew that being on time was out of the question for him, then he'd summon a shadow clone, and replace the substitute at a later time. This action had earned him a lot of points in his relationship with Sakura. Since she too was a member of his team, she also had the unpleasant position of having a late team leader.

It was about ten minutes to five when Naruto knocked on his girlfriend's apartment door. He knew that she wouldn't be ready for a few more minutes. He wasn't all to surprised when he heard Sakura's voice from within the apartment. "Naruto if that's you just come in and wait in the living room. I'm not ready yet." Her voice had originated from somewhere in the back of her apartment.

Naruto let himself in. He was used to this from his prior experiences; he also knew not to rush Sakura. So he walked to her couch and sat himself down. He looked around her place; he swore every time he came in there was something different about the place. The last time the couch had been in another spot. He just waved the thought off in his head. Sakura was never quite content with her settings in her apartment, and constantly shifted things around. It always made Naruto laugh.

Sakura had gotten this apartment no more than a month after the two team mates began dating. It was a way for her to be more independent from her family. Naruto however always felt that their relationship was a sore spot between Sakura and her mother. Some people just couldn't get over the fact that he was the vessel for the Kyubi. Naruto was almost positive that Sakura's mother was one of these people. He did however have the brains not to approach this subject with his girlfriend; it wasn't his place to ponder about her family situations. Well at least not at this point. For now he was content that she had a place to stay, and one that wasn't too far from his own apartment, or the hospital where she spent most of her time. He was surprised that her apartment was always immaculate. She spent so little time there; he always figured she cleaned up right before he got there. That way he'd never be able to comment about her house keeping skills.

He stood up and walked over to a mirror hanging on the wall. One last inspection, before Sakura would be able to see him for the first time dressed in traditional wear. His outfit had changed drastically over the years. His outfit that he had on now exemplified that change. He no longer wore orange as his primary color. In fact finding orange on his outfit tended to be a task. He did not remove it from his wardrobe though. His pants tended to have a small orange line running down the seam. His jacket had been replaced by one that was mainly black, with crimson shoulders. He picked this color from his old sage coat. Overall his main outfit was black. His sage coat however was slightly different from the one he wore when he was fifteen. This one was black, with blue colored flames at the bottom. Many people were surprised that Naruto had taken on the darker look, but no one could deny that even with the subdued look Naruto stuck out in a crowd.

The formal dress he had on now was slightly out of character for him. The lower part was all black. The upper part was what stood out. On the back was his orange spiral clan mark. The front had hexagonal geometric patterns. The lines for the patters were crimson, while the surrounding color was blue. The formal wear illustrated Naruto's change in colors. With his orange being minimal. To top off the entire outfit Naruto had taken off his forehead protector. His blonde hair spilled over in front of his eyes somewhat, and on the sides covered his ears. He never really knew how much his forehead protector actually held back his hair. After checking himself out he gave a slight grin. He knew he looked good, and tonight he wanted to show everyone just that. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a noise coming from the hallway. He turned his head and couldn't believe his eyes. To say he was shocked was the understatement of the century.

Sakura came into the living room and stopped in front of Naruto. She laughed at his expression. Naruto was staring at her, in an almost worshipful manner. He eyed up her kimono. It suited her perfectly. The entire outfit was her in a nutshell. It was mainly pink, with red cherry blossoms all over it. The bottom towards the ground had some peach blossoms that were a light orange. Naruto was speechless, it wasn't just the formal dress, and she had put up her hair. Something Sakura never did, and he was hard pressed to understand why. Here she was standing in front of him, looking like a goddess.

"Naruto, hey baka, I'm talking to you." Sakura had been trying to get Naruto's attention for about a minute. She thought it was cute that he was speechless, but now it was getting a bit embarrassing. "Hey if you don't stop gawking, I'll make you go by yourself." That brought him out of his stupor.

"Sorry Sakura, it's just you look so beautiful. Not like you don't always look beautiful, I've just never seen you in a kimono, let alone with your hair up." Naruto walked around her to finish his evaluation. He stopped in front of her and gave her a thumbs up. "I like it." He smiled at her still holding his thumb up.

"Well you not so bad yourself mister. I don't think I've seen you with your forehead protector off, well when you're not in the hospital. Let alone the fact that you're dressed up." She blushed looking him over. Sakura had to admit, Naruto was a sight when he was in his normal ninja gear, but now. She couldn't describe it. He almost looked like the Yondaime Hokage. Here she was going to the festival with a clone of the greatest ninja the village had ever spawned. She couldn't wait to hear what Ino was going to say about her date. Sakura was so excited, and the night had barely begun.

"So Sakura, where to first, since you're in charge here." Naruto looked at his girlfriend, he had never been to the festival, and the times he had gotten anywhere near it were not fond memories.

Sakura was brought out of her thoughts; she had forgotten that Naruto never went to the festival. How could he, technically he was the anti-thesis of this event. He was the container for the Kyubi, and this festival was created to celebrate the Kyubi's defeat. However she had planned a little in advance. First they were going to hit up Ichiraku's. She knew that Naruto needed to eat a ton of calories during the day, and ramen was packed with them. After that she was going to take him through the games that were set up all around the area. When they were done there she had hoped that they could maybe dance for a little bit. She also had to meet up with Ino at some point in the night. Then there would be the fireworks, oh and Tsunade's speech. "Let's start off with some Ramen Naruto; I know you're probably starving." She smiled as she led him out the door. "Besides, what better way to put you in a good mood?"

Naruto laughed at her comments. "That's not true Sakura; just being with you puts me into a great mood." His comment brought a noticeable blush to her face. Naruto held out his arm. If anything, tonight he was going to be a perfect gentleman for his date. She put her arm in his and they were on their way to the ramen stand.

Naruto was surprised to see the ramen stand nearly full. Not many people would go to Ichiraku's on a normal day; then again Naruto knew that most people thought he'd hide himself away today. He was more than shocked however to see that most of the people in the ramen stand were his fellow graduates, plus Lee and Tenten. "Oi, what are you all doing here?" Naruto questioned the whole group, with a slightly confused look on his face. "I thought none of you really liked ramen."

Ino was the first to answer. "Well it's like this, we all figured we'd stay with you during your first festival, besides, this stuff isn't that bad. We just can't eat it for every meal" Ino stared at the other blonde and chuckled at his red face.

"I eat here all the time by choice. It's the best food I have found." Naruto countered Ino's comments.

"Hey I agree with Naruto, nobody makes better food than the old man" Choji slapped Naruto on his back, and led him to an empty stool. The two immediately began laughing, and having a good time.

Sakura approached Ino and pulled her off to the side. "Ino, I know you didn't know this, but Naruto eats here all the time for certain reasons." The Blonde female stared at Sakura waiting for her to continue. Sakura couldn't believe that Ino, queen of gossip had no idea why Naruto only really ate at Ichiraku's. "Ino it's like this, you know Naruto is the vessel for the Kyubi right?" Ino nodded her head, she had known about the Kyubi ever since she had mistakenly entered Naruto's mind during a mission. "You also know that not many people see Naruto for who he is, and not as the Kyubi." Again the platinum blonde nodded an affirmative. "Well how many restaurants do you think served Naruto when he was younger?" It was at that moment Ino realized what she had done wrong.

"You mean I just made fun of him for eating at the only place that would serve him for so many years?" Sakura just nodded at her friend. Ino couldn't believe it; she had basically just made fun of a person who couldn't buy food at any other place for almost fifteen years. Not only that, but she had done it around people that had known about Naruto's predicament. Ino at this moment dropped her face to the ground. In her mind she was beating herself up for what she had just unknowingly done.

"Ino let it go." Sakura placed an arm on her friends shoulder. "Do you know how many times I used to belittle him for eating here constantly? He knows you didn't know, that's why he didn't get seriously defensive. Now that you know, you have to watch the comments; he's still sensitive about this kind of stuff." Sakura led her friend back to the group. Most of them were laughing; Lee was with Naruto and Choji, talking about how they both were burning with their flames of youth. Kiba was laughing about the scene, but couldn't make jokes since his girlfriend was with him.

Not more than two months before Kiba had been approached by a former nervous heiress. Hinata had asked Kiba to escort her to dinner, to which Kiba jumped at the chance. The two had been dating ever since. The relationship was good for both of them, Kiba had calmed down a lot with Hinata's influence, while Hinata had grown out of her shell and had become a very outgoing individual. A lot of people were surprised when they found out Hinata started the relationship. Those around her however knew that the Hyuuga heiress had harbored feelings for the Inuzuka.

Sakura was happy for the couple. They were doing really well for each other. The only other real surprise anyone had was Tenten and Lee. The two had started dating a few weeks before. Lee was Tenten's rebound, after her and Neji broke up. Apparently his stoic attitude followed him around everywhere, and Tenten's free spirit couldn't handle it. Lee didn't seem to mind, he was enjoying himself for the time being and very little could be done to change that.

Sakura was jostled from her thoughts when the owner of Ichiraku's came up to Naruto with a package. She wasn't expecting what the old man was about to do. "Happy Birthday, to our number one customer!" Teuchi bellowed out as he handed Naruto the small gift.

Naruto's face lit up like Christmas. Teuchi always gave him a small gift for his birthday, but with all the dealings with the festival Naruto had forgotten his own day of birth. "Wow old man!" Naruto exclaimed. "I forgot that today was my birthday, I've been so busy with the festival and what not. Thanks, what is it?" Naruto was rambling faster than most could keep up with. His excitement spilled over as he tore open the present. The box wasn't all that big, but it wasn't all that small. Naruto finally opened the box, which contained a ceramic bowl with the words number one customer written in gold letters around its side. Naruto began laughing hysterically. "So you're finally realizing the truth eh? Or did Ayame put you up to this?" Naruto grinned as he looked at the ramen stand owner.

"Hey kid, I'll have you know I had it custom made just for you, and every time you eat here from now on, that's the bowl you'll be using!" The old man grabbed the bowl and filled it with Naruto's order, and then placed it back in front of the blonde ninja. Everyone laughed at the spectacle, here was Naruto eating from a bowl, bigger than the rest the store had. Announcing that he was in fact the number one customer.

It was at this point that Sakura stared at the faces of all her friends. That's when she noticed many of them looked uncomfortable. Then it hit her as well. Tonight was Naruto's Birthday, and she didn't get him a gift!

* * *

Quick note. I am going to try and update this story 5 times a week, till it's finished. i ahve decided that there will be no lemon. i don't find unreasonable sex to be all that romantic. yes sex can be romantic, but i'm not going to type it out for this. you will all have to use your imaginations as to what Naruto and Sakura do to each other. i may change my mind about this, but fo now no sex. Also quick plot twist, everyone forgot Naruto's birthday!

one last thing, i know alot of people are going to get a bit testy about me putting Lee and Tenten together. i don't know though, i think they'd work out, she'd keep him on his toes.


	5. Chapter 5

She couldn't believe it. How could she be so stupid, here she was celebrating a holiday, in a festival, that was based around the fact that the Kyubi no Kitsune was sealed into her boyfriend. The event she had begged him to escort her to, and put her effort into. All of that, and she had forgotten his birthday. How could she do such a thing? She hung her head in shame. How could Sakura look at Naruto now, especially with the things he had done for her on her birthday. Breakfast in bed, a full massage, a nice candle light dinner that he had prepared himself, and a romantic walk through the village. All that, and here she was, dressed up and feeling selfish, cause she was being demanding on her boyfriends eighteenth birthday.

She wasn't the only person to feel down about the current situation. She noticed that Kiba, Ino, Lee, Tenten, and Neji all had surprised looks on their faces. She was even more surprised to see Choji and Shikamaru hand a present to her blonde boyfriend. "Even though it was troublesome to find you something, here you go. We saw it while we were in wave country, and knew you'd like it."

Naruto opened the tube that Shikamaru had handed to him. It wasn't wrapped, as Choji had explained that Shikamaru figured the tube was wrapping enough. Naruto laughed at his friends. He pulled out a rolled up piece of paper, everyone was intrigued. Naruto unrolled the paper and smiled at the picture that was printed. He thanked Choji and Shikamaru. "Guys its great! Thanks a bunch!"

Naruto turned and showed the poster to the other people in the party. Many were confused as to why Choji and Shikamaru would get Naruto a poster of a bridge from the wave country. Ino just couldn't figure it out for the life of her, why was the poster making Naruto so happy? "Umm Naruto that's nice and all, but why are you so happy about a poster of the bridge in wave country?" Ino truly had no clue, and she wasn't the only one, besides Shino and Sakura, the others were completely dumbfounded about the gift. Ino however was the only person that had no problem to ask the question.

Naruto just laughed even harder. "Ino that's a simple answer. This bridge that is on the poster, well it was named after me, believe it!" Naruto just pointed his finger to the lower corner of the poster, and true enough to his words the name of the bridge was there. The name of the bridge, the great Naruto Bridge. It even said exactly who it was named after. Uzumaki Naruto, the hero of the country of Waves. "It was our first B rank mission." Nauto turned to Sakura, and smiled. "You remember right Sakura?" Sakura nodded at her boyfriend's question. Upon her confirmation Naruto turned back to the others. "All I did was encourage a little boy to stand for what he believed in. Because of that he was able to rally the entire village behind him in protecting their home. The bridge builder named the bridge after me because I gave the entire town the will to not be held down anymore." Naruto closed his eyes and grinned. The others around him weren't surprised by the story.

If anything most of them could relate it to another experience they had had with Naruto. For Neji it was their fight during the chunin exams semi finals. For Ino it was the moment Naruto had killed Kakuzu using his Rasen-shuriken. All the others thought of their own moment where Naruto had awakened in them the confidence to change, or to grow.

Sakura was beside herself. The gift was something completely simple, and yet it held so much meaning. It was a memory of when Naruto began to spread his influence outside of the village. It was also the first time he had been completely and utterly accepted with no questions asked. It was something Naruto had been craving since childhood. And here she was trying to think of something to top such a well thought gift. Leave it to Shikamaru to think of the perfect thing.

"Hey brat, Gaara, and Kankuro wanted me to give you our gift as well." Temari held out a clothing box. Naruto opened the box and pulled out a coat. "We didn't know your size, but Gaara is pretty confident you'll like it. He even picked the design himself." Temari grinned at the memory of her brother picking out the material for the coat. It was almost like he was drawn to the two colors. He had even picked the design to use for the gift. "I swear, Gaara never looked happier than when he was getting that thing made for you. I know he'd love it if you wore it the next time you came to Suna."

Naruto pulled the coat out of the box. It looked almost exactly the same as the coat her wore on a normal day. But he noticed something different. This one had a hood, that way he could hide his head while in the desert. It also had a strip of cloth so he could cover his face while walking around in the sandy climate. "Temari-neechan, tell Gaara that I love it, and I will wear it the next time I'm in Suna. Oh and thank you very much." Naruto leaned over and hugged the old kunoichi. She returned the hug. The display of emotions from the younger man didn't surprise her at all. Every time he was in Suna he acted almost like a younger brother, except a little more emotional than her younger brothers.

Again Sakura couldn't believe it. Temari had given him a gift that was practical in use for him to wear when he went to visit Gaara. She was having a hard time thinking of what she could give him. Nothing was coming to mind, and it was seriously starting to hurt her emotionally.

Shino was next. No one had expected him to do anything, but he handed Naruto a small package, no bigger than the one that Teuchi had given Naruto earlier. Naruto opened it, and was shocked to see a pot, and a few packages of seeds. "Umm Shino, I'm scared to ask, but how did you know I like to grow flowers?"

Shino just pointed down towards Naruto's chest. Naruto looked down and clearly saw one of Shino's insects crawling around on him. "I had that one transmit information to me about your hobbies. It didn't take long to see that you liked to grow plants in your apartment, so I went out and got this for you." Shino's monotonous voice ended there. He never was a person of many words.

Naruto however glared hard at Shino. "How long was this thing on me Shino?" Sakura caught the hint of irritation, and wondered why Naruto would get so upset, and then it hit her. If the insect had been on Naruto two days ago, when the two of them had made out in her apartment. Her face went beat red, she was embarrassed. If Shino had that info, then he'd know what Sakura and Naruto had been doing.

"I had this one attach itself to you last night. I had all the info I needed within five hours. You put a lot of care into those flowers in your kitchen." Naruto twitched, now everyone knew he liked to garden on a small scale. As he thought about it, there was worse things Shino could have said. He just sighed and walked over to Shino. "Thank you, I'll plant them as soon as possible. Do me a favor though." Naruto leaned in to whisper into Shino's ear. "Next time you do something like this; try not to make you lie obvious to me. You know as well as I do that I haven't done anything with my plants in over a week. Next time gives us some privacy." Shino got red in the face, he knew he had made a mistake when he lied, but he also knew that the one person that could blow his spot was Naruto. He was relieved when Naruto had only asked him to remain quiet, which wasn't a hard thing for him to do. He just nodded his head in affirmation.

The group just laughed, they had no clue what had passed between the two males, all they knew was they had seen Shino's face turn red in embarrassment, which to most was a first. The night was just beginning; Hinata stepped forwards with a gift as well. Naruto was shocked, very rarely did Hinata approach him, even after her and Kiba had begun dating. She handed her small package to Naruto, which had a card attached to it. Naruto took the card and read it first. It was simple, it just read happy birthday. Hinata had put hers Kiba's, and Akamaru's names in the card. Naruto opened the gift. He smiled brightly; Hinata had bought him a new frog wallet. He started laughing. Naruto remembered that Hinata had been on the mission with him where his prized wallet gama-chan had been incinerated by an enemy ninja's fire attack.

"Thank you Hinata." Naruto turned to Kiba as well. "Thanks Kiba, and thank Akamaru for me as well." Naruto put the wallet into his pocket and turned to the rest of the group. "Umm yeah, can I catch you guys in a few minutes; I'm going to take this stuff home so I'm not carrying it around all night." Naruto grabbed the rest of his gifts and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Once he was gone Sakura nearly collapsed. A few of the others had left upon Naruto's departure, but Ino and her team had stayed. They wanted to hang out with Naruto and Sakura. Ino however saw the depressed look on her friends face. "Hey Sakura, can I talk to you alone for a minute." Sakura looked at her friend and followed her as they walked away from the Ramen stand. "Look Sakura, I'm guessing by your face that you haven't gotten Naruto a gift, and I'm sure that after what just happened that the others are going to go off and buy him something as well. I want to ask you, would it be alright if I treated you two, and the three in my group to a nice dinner as a gift to him?" Ino was looking desperately at Sakura. She had no clue what Naruto liked, let alone his hobbies.

Sakura was surprised that this meant so much to Ino. She knew Ino didn't want Naruto to think she didn't care about his birthday, and seeing how desperate her blonde friend was Sakura just had to relent. "It's a perfect idea Ino, just one condition. You have to help me figure out a great gift to give Naruto. I mean how am I supposed to beat the poster, let alone the replacement wallet that Hinata gave him?" Sakura was in deep, and she desperately need some help.

"Why don't you sleep with him?" Ino asked in a serious manner. Sakura's face turned bright red. She couldn't believe what Ino had just said. She wasn't going to give her virginity as a way to save face on her boyfriend's birthday. While the idea would be accepted full heartedly, she couldn't bring herself to do such a thing. "Come on Sakura I was joking. I know you're waiting for the right moment to do that. The idea has to be something from your heart right. Well why don't you think about what his heart wants the most." Ino's bit of wisdom hit Sakura like a ton of bricks. She knew exactly what she was going to get Naruto for his birthday, but she needed to get everyone together. Her plan wouldn't be too hard; she could have it accomplished before the fireworks began. All she needed was a camera.

Before Naruto could return Sakura laid her plan out to Ino. "I figured it out, but there is a slight problem. I need a camera, and a camera man!" Sakura was talking extremely fast; Ino caught it but didn't understand. Why would Sakura want a camera man? Sakura decided to explain her train of thought. "It's simple. Naruto doesn't have a picture of himself with the entire group. So I figured we get a camera man to take a group photo for him, and of course the rest of us. Also this is probably the only time him and I are going to dress up like this, so I want to get a picture of the two of us together."

Ino's face lit up. The idea was simple, a group picture of Naruto with his friends, and then a single picture of him with his girlfriend. It was simple, yet it would remind him of how close he had become to the fellow shinobi of his age group. "Sakura that's perfect. He'll love your idea. When would we do all this though?"

Sakura looked at her watch that was hidden up her sleeve. The time at that moment was fifteen minutes till six. They had at least two hours before dinner, and four hours before the fireworks display. "We'll need to catch everyone before the fireworks. The picture of him and I should be done before we go to dinner. I'll just have to find someone to take the picture." Sakura began to think of people that would be able to help her out. Kakashi was out; he'd beat the memorial stone all night with a bottle of sake, making toasts to his fallen comrades. Yamoto was out; he had an anbu mission that wouldn't allow him to be back until the following week. Sai was out of the question, he was working a booth for the festival. If she remembered right he was making sketches, or paintings for couples who wanted to remember this special moment.

Again Sakura's mind did a double take. Sai! He was perfect; he could take the picture of the couple, and maybe for some extra incentive make a painting of it. They would also need Sai for the group photo, since he was a part of team 7. Things were just fitting into place. "Ino I have solved everything, all I need to do is find the booth that Sai is running, and my prayers will be answered."


	6. Chapter 6

Sai was perfect. He could paint a great quality picture in a couple of hours. And a group photo wouldn't be the same without him. All Sakura needed was a way to get to his booth without alerting Naruto to her new plan. "Ino I need you to go find Sai's booth. Tell him the situation, and have him come meet us for dinner. We'll take it from there." Sakura watched as Ino took off into the festival. All Sakura had to do now was get a hold of the other friends in their group. This was going to be easy.

Naruto returned to the Ramen stand only to see Sakura waiting for him. He was kind of disappointed that the others had gone off to do their own things. He was hoping that they could all hang out together till after the fireworks. He walked over to Sakura to find out what was going on. "Hey Sakura, where'd everyone go?" Naruto was puzzled.

"Oh, they all went off to do their own thing. We'll meet up with them after dinner. Besides now I get you to myself, so let's go through the festival and play some games and enjoy ourselves." Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm and drug him towards the festival grounds. She wanted to give Naruto the full experience. She had it planned out, some fun carnival style games, and maybe some time on a few of the couples rides. She was excited. Here she was getting to enjoy Naruto's first festival with him. They came to the game area and Naruto was shocked. People were dressed up and running from booth to booth. He had never seen anything so grand in the village before, and he was going to enjoy it. He tightened his grip on Sakura's hand a bit.

"Alright, you find me a game to play, and I'll win you a prize." Naruto smiled at his girlfriend, and watched as she looked around at the booths. She wanted to see what Naruto was going to do, and hoped he would have a good time. She spotted a booth that looked good. She pointed it out to Naruto and watched as his smile grew wider. The booths sign was simple. Test your strength! She knew Naruto could beat anything the booth threw at him. She wasn't ready for who was running it. "Test my strength eh? This should be interesting." Naruto smirked. He saw who was running the booth and was not surprised at all. Standing there eyeing him up was none other than the green beast of Konoha, Maito Gai, and his own sensei the copy ninja, Hatake Kakashi.

Sakura couldn't believe it. She figured Kakashi was at the memorial like he usually was. Yet here he was running a booth with his so called rival, and friend. "Well that's a surprise!" Sakura waved to her teacher. He nodded at her and sent both her and Naruto one of his famous eye smiles.

"So Naruto-kun, you've come to test your strength? Well pick a prize for your beautiful flower, and then we'll pick the exercise that you have to perform to win it." Gai gave Naruto his nice guy pose and waited for the young blonde's response.

"That's simple Gai. I'm going to win her that stuffed fox. That way when I'm not around, she can cuddle up to something that reminds her of me. Believe it!" Naruto returned his own nice guy pose to the two older jonin. He then turned to Sakura and gave her a smile. "I know it won't be a great replacement for me, but a fox is a fox." He laughed and watched as Sakura's face turned bright red. Here he was trying to win her a gift that represented himself better than anything else she could think of. Her foxy boyfriend was about to win her a giant stuffed animal. "Okay, so what's the challenge here? Ring the bell? Beat you in an arm wrestling contest?" Naruto was pumped. He knew he could take on Both Gai and Kakashi. It was no secret. He had beaten Kakashi straight up during his jonin exam.

"Don't get to excited Naruto. We're going to play three simple games. One of which is ring the bell. Another is arm wrestling. The final one we get to determine if you can pass the first two games." Kakashi said as he pulled out his green copy of icha icha tactics. "Don't forget, the third game is not going to be easy for you." Kakashi looked up and gave an evil smirk with his eye. Oh it was payback time for the jonin exam. He had something in mind to mess with the blonde jonin in front of him. He was going to embarrass the kid in front of his girlfriend, and watch the after effects.

"Okay Naruto-kun, first thing is the test is ringing the bell at the top of the tower!" Gai led Naruto to a thirty foot tall tower topped with a bell. Naruto knew this game. It was simple. Pick up the hammer, slam it down and send a weight up to the bell. "Here's your hammer Naruto-kun, I wouldn't drop it on either of your feet if I was you." Gai picked up a sledge hammer with his left hand, and handed it to the challenging blonde.

Naruto took the handle in his hands. He wasn't expecting what would happen when Gai dropped the hammer head. The hammer dropped to the ground almost immediately. Naruto couldn't believe it. The thing had to weigh at least three hundred pounds. The hammer was heavy, and in his state of dress it was extremely unwieldy. "Hehe, Umm Sakura, can you hold my top for me?"

Sakura couldn't understand the request. Why was Naruto taking off his top? "Come on Naruto, why are you taking your top off. Who are you trying to impress?" Sakura winked at the blonde.

"Well it's not that. This thing is freaking heavy, and I don't want to ruin my brand new formal wear." Naruto scratched his face, while chuckling uncomfortably. The hammer had to react to his chakra. There was no other way for the thing to be this damn heavy. He handed his top to his girlfriend and laughed at her appreciative glance. Here he was standing in formal pants, with only a fishnet shirt on. He turned back to the hammer and picked it up onto his shoulder. "Damn this thing is heavy. So what is it, chakra metal?"

Kakashi wasn't surprised that Naruto had figured it out. The blonde knew his stuff. The metal was in fact chakra enhanced. It was made to react to a person's chakra, and make itself heavy enough to put strain on the person lifting it. He knew the hammer had to weigh at least four hundred pounds while his former pupil wielded it. Naruto did in fact have the most chakra out of anyone that resided in the village.

Naruto hefted the hammer up, and slammed it down onto his target. The resounding thud could be felt by Sakura. She knew the Hammer head had to be heavy, if it was chakra enhanced metal it was definitely reacting to Naruto's massive chakra reserves. She was surprised though to feel the slight tremor that the impact had created. The counter weight raced up the tower, and rang the bell. Naruto handed the hammer back to Gai. He was smiling from ear to ear. He knew his little show was going to put Kakashi on edge. The two hadn't seen eye to eye since Naruto's jonin exam, and Naruto pushed the issue every time he saw his teammate and former teacher. It had been quite a fight, but Naruto had held back on the silver haired jonin, and Kakashi knew it. More than anything that's what had caused the problems between the two.

"Okay lover boy. Second game. You're going to arm wrestle with me." Kakashi put his book away into his pocket and approached the younger male. He didn't show emotion as he sat at a table across from Naruto. He paced his arm out and waited for Naruto to take his position. Naruto sat down, and grabbed Kakashi's hand. He grinned at his friend, and waited to begin. "Okay the rules are simple." Kakshi gave Naruto another eye smile. "All you have to do is pin my hand once, and then we can move on to the final game.

Naruto was ready. In sheer brute force he had Kakashi beat hands down. This was going to be simple. "Okay Naruto, one, two, three." Kakashi gripped Naruto's hand and tried to pin it. Naruto fought back and within a matter of seconds pinned the older ninjas hand to the table. Naruto didn't grin, nor did he comment. He knew that even this simple game was a big deal to his former teacher. The two were at odds for a couple of months over the smallest of things, and this was just another thing to come between their friendship.

"Alright you beat me, now we're on to the third and final game. This one is of our discretion. It's going to be a test of mental strength. And I know just the way to test you." Kakashi smiled as he pulled up his head band revealing his sharingan. "I'm going to bring you into Tsyukiomi. You'll figure it out once it begins." Kakashi activated his Mankekyo Sharingan, and pulled Naruto into the most powerful genjutsu known throughout the lands.

Naruto was taken aback by such a move. He knew Kakashi was sore about the way things had been going the last few months, but to use this technique was unheard of. He went with it anyway, and was not going to back down. He was transported to the illusions world, and waited to see what Kakashi had planned. It wasn't anything like he had expected. Kakashi was going out of his way to try and torture the blonde. There in front of him was the image of his girlfriend, making out with His former rival and best friend. He watched as the make out session heated up. That's when he figured it out. Kakashi was testing his emotional strength, and he wasn't going to cave. He watched for what seemed like hours as the two people in front of him engaged in acts that Naruto had never even dreamed of.

To say he was pissed with his former teacher was an understatement. He gathered as much chakra as he could. He had enough, he was going to turn the tables on the copy ninja, and he was going to do it with as much force as possible. He put his fingers together and began to channel all his chakra to a single point. He began to grin wickedly, so Kakashi wanted to play dirty eh? Well he was going to turn this completely on his friend. He released all his chakra in quick burst. The burst turned the illusions back against the caster. Naruto manipulated the world and changed it to replay his match against Kakashi from the jonin finals.

Kakashi couldn't believe it. Naruto had turned his strongest attack back on him, and had manipulated it to show the one moment that had started the unrest between the two men. It was over, Kakashi knew he was beaten. He released the illusion. "So you're getting better at dealing with genjutsu?"

Naruto glared at his former teacher. "Yeah I got better." Naruto put his hand out in front of him, waiting to see if Kakashi would take it. He did and the two shook their hands. Naruto however decided that he had enough of the hostility between the two. "Kakashi, I'm sorry that you and I can't see eye to eye right now, but if you ever do something like that to me again I swear Tsunade herself will be dealing with you in the hospital for at least ten hours." Naruto looked into his teacher's eyes to confirm that what he said was not just an idol threat.

"That's fine, but you and I are going to have a talk about this, and you're not going to run from it." Kakashi returned the glare. He stood up and motioned to Gai that Naruto had won.

"Amazing, Naruto-kun proves once again that his youthful flames burn brightly!" Gai reached out and grabbed Naruto in a hug. He released the young man and handed him the Fox stuffed animal. "Enjoy your night young man, and spread your youthful flames throughout the festival!"

Naruto chuckled at the display from the older jonin. He took the plush and gave it to Sakura. He then put on his top and wrapped his arm around his girlfriends' waist. "Come one Sakura-chan; let's go drop that off at your apartment." Naruto began walking away from the booth. He took one last look back at Akashi. "We'll talk tomorrow; I'll meet you at the memorial stone around noon." With that Naruto and Sakura walked away.

Sakura was stunned by the animosity between her two teammates. She knew things had been strained between the two, but tonight was really bad. They looked like they were about to start fighting right there at the booth. She was also curious as to what could make Naruto so angry with their former teacher that he would threaten his life. "Naruto, please tell me what happened?"

Naruto stopped and stared at his girlfriend for a second and decided it best to answer her. "The pervert decided to show me a genjutsu, of you and Sasuke going at it pretty hot and heavy." Naruto looked her straight in the eyes and continued. "I got tired of it, so I turned his technique against him, and made him watch our match from a few months ago."

Sakura was livid. Why would Kakashi do such a thing, especially on Naruto's birthday? Was he that mad about getting beat? Or was there something deeper that the two men had not told her?

"Don't worry about it Sakura, me and him are going to work it out tomorrow. I'm tired of feeling uncomfortable while on missions with him." Naruto pulled Sakura in for a hug. "Besides, let's not let his and my problems ruin this night."


	7. Chapter 7

Naruto followed Sakura's lead through the rest of the area. She no longer held the stuffed fox. Naruto had sent a shadow clone to return it to her apartment. Sometimes his techniques worked outside of his missions, just as well as they did during them. They walked by a booth that Kurenai was running. It was just something to impress the younger children, but it was getting a lot of attention. The next booth the passed was run by Anko. This one definitely caught their eyes. It was a simple target game. Through a ball and sink it into a basket on the first try, and win a prize. Naruto laughed since most of the prizes were throwing weapons. Anko obviously didn't know how to set up her booth to catch the villager's attention. Shinobi on the other hand were trying their best to get the ball into the target basket.

"Well Naruto do you want to try your skill at this one?" Sakura nudged his side. Edging him closer to the booth. Naruto shied away. He didn't want to go anywhere near Anko's booth, he was still scared of her from the incident at the first chunin exams they attended. The snake user had a reputation of liking to draw blood. Naruto had seen it first hand on a mission he'd gone on. Anko had been flirting with Iruka-sensei the entire time. When Iruka had finally shown interest the kunoichi had thrown a kunai right at him. The image would shock Naruto for a long time to come. Especially since Iruka and her were dating, and going strong.

Anko caught sight of the blonde jinchuriki. She liked the boy; he was brash, spunky, and extremely confident in his own abilities. Her boyfriend Iruka had commented that Naruto was probably the best catch the entire village had to offer. Anko had to disagree; her Iruka-kun was the best catch. Only a man like him could handle the stress of teaching at the academy, and go out on b class missions. Let alone handle her desire for midnight dango runs. Or her penchant for classic movies. Not many people could understand that her life as a ninja was different than her life as a woman. Iruka was different, and from what she had seen, Naruto was the same way with his girlfriend.

"Step up kid, try your best and win a gift for pinky there!" Anko smiled at the couple. She knew that her statement sounded confrontational, but she couldn't help it. Standing there was uncomfortable for her. "All you have to do is get the first ball in the basket, and you can choose one of the big prizes." Anko pointed to a wall adorned with katanas, and small axes. "Get it in on the second and you can pick one of the smaller prizes." She then pointed to the other side of the wall where knives of all different types were placed. She definitely felt out of place. She was on display in front of the villagers, many of whom still thought of her as Orochimaru's apprentice.

Naruto noticed her discomfort, but said nothing. It wasn't the time or place to bring it up, let alone the fact that she scared the hell out of him. He handed Anko some coins and took his first throw. The ball went into the basket, and bounced out. Not to be beaten he tossed the second ball. It circled the outside of the basket and fell to the floor. He couldn't believe it; this game was a lot harder than it looked. "Give me another round." Naruto paid Anko again. He was going to sink the ball into the basket. He threw the first ball, and watched as it bounced out again. He threw the second one, and watched as it too bounced out.

Sakura was giggling. Her boyfriend was getting frustrated, and it showed on his face. She was going to let him try one more time, and then she was going to take a swing at the game. Besides she saw a nice looking short sword that would look nice hanging from Naruto's shoulder, or even his hip. She watched as he threw the last ball. He obviously didn't understand the point of the game. It wasn't about getting the ball to go in the basket directly. One had to let the force of energy dissipate off the back of the basket before the ball could hit the bottom, that way it wouldn't bounce out. Naruto visibly gave up; she knew because he dropped his shoulders and looked at the ground. His slumped posture made her laugh a bit.

"Let me try Naruto!" Sakura put some of her coins on the counter and took the first ball. She tossed the ball in a low arc towards the basket. The ball hit the back of her target, and sunk into the basket. She squealed, she had guessed right, the game wasn't about power, it was about finesse. "Look I got it; I got it on the first try!" Sakura grabbed Naruto and jumped on him, wrapping him in a big hug. She was going to get him the sword she had eyed.

The Sword was simple in design. It had a short black blade, no longer than Naruto's forearm. The handle had what looked like a knuckle guard which could be used to punch opponents. The entire thing was ended with a round bottom, definitely made to hit an adversary in the head with. "Umm Anko, can I have that black short sword there." Sakura pointed to the weapon.

Anko was shocked, that sword was a very nice piece. She hadn't expected the pink haired medic to spot such a practical weapon. "This one." Anko grabbed the sword and handed it to the medic-nin. "You have an eye there pinky. This one is small enough to be wielded one handed, but big enough to cause major amounts of damage. It's also made of chakra enhanced metal, so it'll harden if you run your own chakra, or elemental chakra through it. So you want me to wrap it for you, or are you just going to hang it on a wall?" Anko chuckled as she teased the younger kunoichi.

Just give it to Naruto, I won it for him. He'd get more use out of it. "Sakura sneered a bit at the older female. She knew Anko was just joking around, but sometimes it got really old, really fast. "Besides I'd rather use a scalpel or kunai to deal with my adversary. There's grace behind a small blade." Sakura turned to Naruto and smiled. "Besides, he'd know how to swing that thing around, and cause more damage than I even could." Sakura handed the blade to Naruto who had a smirk on his face.

He had learned some ken-jutsu while on his training trip with Jiraiya. So this new weapon wasn't going to take him long to use, if he could actually use the thing. "Hey Anko, is this thing battle ready, or is it just ornamental?" The blonde looked at Anko just in time to see her slip a kunai into her hand. "Hey wait it was a simple…" Before he could finish his sentence Anko had loosed the kunai from her hand. Naruto raised the sword and blocked the incoming projectile. He sighed as the adrenaline in his system dissipated. He looked back up at Anko and smiled wide. "You didn't answer my question!" Naruto started laughing hard as he saw Anko get red in the face. He knew she hadn't expected the quick remark, let alone for him to block such a close ranged throw.

"Shut it brat, the blade is battle ready. You can use it in battle; just run your chakra through it. Oh and treat it with respect, that's a good blade there." Anko turned her back on the couple and waited to see if another group would come over. She listened as the two began to walk away.

Naruto looked at Sakura and decided that carrying the blade around all night was a bad thing. He made a shadow clone and sent it on its way towards his apartment. Once the clone was out of sight it turned and made a straight line for Anko's stand. When it got there the clone was shocked to see that Anko looked depressed. "Hey Anko." The older female turned to see the blonde without his girlfriend.

"What do you want brat?" She was taken back that the blonde had come back without his pink haired piece of arm candy. "Where's the girlfriend? Did you let her go off on her own?" Anko was truly surprised; Naruto was always with the pinkette whenever she saw him outside of missions and training. So why was he here now by himself?

Naruto's clone knew what Anko was thinking, he decided not to play with her and just say what he came to say. "Anko, I'm not Naruto per se. I'm one of his shadow clones. He wants to know if you could teach him how to use the blade, and maybe help with his form." The clone didn't give Anko the chance to respond, he also had one more thing to say to her. "He also wants you to know, that there is no reason for you to continue hiding who you are. If we can get approval from most of the village, than you can too. If you need to talk to anyone about it, we're always here for you. Iruka can always help out to. He may not look it, but that guy is filled with good advice." Naruto winked at the Kunoichi, and took off without letting her reply to his face.

Anko watched as the blonde jonin took off down the street. "Hey brat, just name the time and place and I'll help you, and thanks for the advice!" Anko shouted in front of a crowd of people, and she didn't even care. She turned back and looked at the crowd she couldn't hide it right now. The kids words made her feel so good about herself, and she was going to be damned if she let the stares from the villagers take that feeling away from her. "Alright, come on step up and try to win a piece of personal protection." Anko started to get into her role as a booth operator.

Naruto was walking closer to the main stage with Sakura at his side. His clone dispelled, and the memories flooded his mind. He smiled as he found out what the clone had said to Anko. That woman really needed to open up, and Naruto knew he could help her, even if he was terrified of what she might do to him. He couldn't help but shiver at his current thoughts. He looked at Sakura and hoped she didn't feel him shake. His prayers were unanswered.

"Naruto, what's wrong, why did you shiver?" Sakura looked worried at her companion.

"Oh my clone dispelled, and on his way back to my apartment he ran past Lee and Tenten making out. It kind of disturbed me and I didn't need the mental image." Naruto laughed and thanked whatever deity gave him the ability to quickly think up such an excuse. Unfortunately his clone did catch sight of Tenten and Lee making out. "Besides I have no clue what to do next. I kinda want to find something that we can do together without winning a prize."

As luck would have it the two happened upon Sai's booth. Sakura couldn't believe the luck. Hopefully Ino had found him and explained the situation to their socially inept friend. "Well, we could get a picture drawn up here by Sai." Sakura pointed the booth out to Naruto. He wasn't too fond of the idea; Sai had a bad habit of making comments that weren't proper, especially ones about his anatomy. He went along with it though since Sakura seemed so energetic about the idea. "Hey Sai, Do you have any customers right now?" Sakura waved to her usually quiet friend.

Sai looked at his teammates. The sight of the two made him smile. These two had a habit of making him show emotions, and he enjoyed being around them. "Hello Bitch, hey dickless." Sai smiled brightly as he watched his two teammates fall to the ground.

"Sai!" Sakura grabbed her upper arm as if she was about to punch her teammate. Naruto held her back; he had expected Sai to greet them in such a manner. He wasn't surprised however to see Sakura punch Sai upside the back of his head. It made him laugh a bit.

Sakura leaned in next to Sai's head and began whispering. "Sorry to hit you, but did Ino happen to find you."

Sai Nodded. If what Ino had told him, he was about to be a part of Sakura's gift to Naruto. All he had to do was paint a picture of the two. Nothing major. "Yeah she was here about twenty minutes ago. I'll make sure the painting looks good; just make sure he doesn't know what's really going on." Sai smiled at his pink haired teammate. This was going to be fun, he always wanted to help with these type of things, and what better way than to use his ninja talents.

"So Sai what are you doing here?" Naruto looked around at Sai's booth and saw sketches of couples, friends, and single people dressed up in formal attire. He truly had no clue what Sai would be doing here.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, I'm doing sketches of the festival goers, and couples that want to remember tonight." Sai grabbed a camera from the table next to him. 'If you guys would like I can make one for you, it would be a great way to remember the night, and keep something to remind you of your time at your first festival."

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Authors notes. First thing. i have to say this. Everyone needs to stop assuming things about what i'm going to write. i haven't set anything in stone, the truth is i type up a chapter in about 5 hours and finish it a half hour before i upload it to . the story is in my head, and i'm not going to deviate from it one bit. Also i know there is a bunch of stories that have Sakura dumping Naruto for Sasuke. Everyone needs to stop assuming thats what i'm going to do, because it's not. The answers to their break up will be coming in the next couple of chapters. Also most of what i write has a plot device for another part of the story. the chapter i'm going to write about Naruto' jonin exam will explain the tension between Kakashi and Naruto.

Above all I am sorry that this post was over 12 hours late. wasn't working right this morning, so i had to wait till i woke up to post.


	8. Chapter 8

Quick note. I am sorry that it took me almost a week to update this story. i had a hard time typing up exactly what i wanted to say. Also for anyone that wants to know why i picked the name of the restaurant, i have a simple answer. the name is actually a real place in cleveland Ohio. i stopped in there a few times on my way to detroit from Erie. that place had the best General tso's chicken that i ever had. unfourtunately i think they closed.

last thing. if anyone has a deviant art account, and would like to draw the painting i described, i would really like to see it drawn out. I myself can't do it since i really do suck at drawing. if you do happen to attept it, send me a link to the picture in a review.

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Naruto sat in a chair holding Sakura bridal style in his lap. He was looking at her, while she avoided his gaze with a slight blush on her face. Even if she was trying to pose for Sai she was finding it hard to look at Naruto. She was afraid that if she stared at him that she would burst out the surprise planned for later on that night. She shifted uncomfortably in Naruto's grasp; the blonde man had a way of making her feel that her emotions were printed on her face.

Naruto knew his staring was making Sakura feel uncomfortable. She still had a problem sometimes of holding in her emotions. Naruto knew that right now was one of those moments. He looked at Sai, as the quiet teammate prepared to make a rough sketch of the couple. Naruto couldn't believe this. The usually stoic expression was nowhere to be found, instead Sai was smiling. Naruto was trying not to laugh, Sai had problems showing emotions, even now, and yet here he was with a genuine smile adorning his face. "Hey Sai, it's nice to see you smile once in awhile." Naruto laughed as Sai's face turned beat red. He had caught Sai off guard, and the artist knew it.

"That's not funny Naruto-kun. I'll make sure in this picture to point out that you have no penis." Sai smiled again as he saw Naruto drop his head. Naruto may have been able to catch him off guard, but he was able to attack Naruto's manhood in front of his girlfriend. It wasn't everyday he could watch the man drop into a quick depression. Then again, it wasn't every night he was able to sketch the people he considered his favorite models. Sakura and Naruto had been his inspiration for a few of his projects, but getting the two of them together for him to sketch was near impossible. One because Naruto couldn't stand still for extended periods of time, and two because Sakura always caught him staring at her and thought he was being a pervert. Seriously those two were trouble separated from each other. One would think that together the two would be near impossible, but here they were, quietly sitting waiting for Sai to start drawing them. Truth be told he couldn't stop smiling, the two looked elegant together the way they were looking at each other, and the way they acted so giddy just from the close contact that they had. "Okay, I'm ready." Sai waited for them to take their pose and began sketching.

Naruto was looking at Sakura, who was blushing and staring right back at him. They looked almost inseparable at that moment. Sai couldn't believe his eyes, he drew their outlines as quick as could be, trying to get as much detail into the picture as he could. After five minutes he was done with the basic sketch that he was going to use for his painting. He then picked up the small camera that Ino had left with him and put it to his eye. If he was good he could capture this moment without them noticing him. He clicked the shutter.

The couple was shocked to say the least. They had gotten lost in each other's eyes. The flash from the camera brought them both back to their senses. Both began to blush deep red, and looked at Sai with an incredulous look on their faces.

Sai just looked back at the two with a smile on his face. "What, I'm done with the sketch, and I don't think it's fair to make the two of you hold that pose for a long time. Also with the picture I can finish the painting without the two of you here." Sai turned his back on the two and waved them to where he was. "If you two would like to take a look at the sketch please go ahead."

Sakura stood from Naruto's lap and walked over. She turned to take a quick look at the painting. Her breath caught in her throat, the sketch was so detailed. It had caught their loving expressions, and Sai had even taken the time to emphasize their features. The whole image was making her tear up, it was just so perfect. She looked to Naruto and motioned for him to come over. Sakura wanted to see his expression when he saw the sketch that would become a painting. Naruto walked over and peered at the canvas.

He was amazed. This picture looked great, and Naruto couldn't understand how Sai was able to catch the moment so well. Naruto himself was having a hard time not gawking at Sai's work. It truly had caught the moment, and their feelings. Now Naruto completely understood why Sakura would want to have this done. The sketch captured everything, and Sai's attention to detail was spot on perfect. "Sakura, it's amazing, I'm glad you asked me to do this, otherwise I would never have come near Sai's booth." Naruto smiled, but was broken from the moment when Sai decided to interject into the conversation.

"Of course you'd stay away from my booth." Sai walked towards the couple in a hurried fashion. "I wouldn't expect anything else from a dickless man. I'm not surprised though that the bitch here was able to get you to show up." Sai stood between the couple; he had no clue how much trouble he was in at that moment.

"Sai, no offense, but why do you keep calling me dickless? Are you batting for the other team?" Naruto had to offset his anger by asking such an inappropriate question. He knew that Sai wasn't gay, but that he liked to put people off. It was his defense mechanism from getting to close to the people around him, kind of like how Naruto was loud. Naruto patted Sai on his shoulder though, hoping his action would calm down Sakura. He didn't need to see his girlfriend put their teammate into traction over a simple comment.

Sakura had other plans. She grabbed Sai by the shoulder and turned him to face her. "Listen Sai!" Sakura wasn't holding her emotions in at all. "I don't care that you call my boyfriend dickless. But you need to stop calling me bitch; otherwise I'm going to bitch slap you so hard that your body will land in Suna!" Sakura let go her teammate, and leaned in close to his hear and began to whisper. "I'm going to let this slide tonight Sai, because you're doing us a favor, and I have to say that sketch looked amazing. I can't wait to see the painting when you're done." Sakura giggled, and closed her eyes while smiling.

Sai began to blush. It was rare for him to be able to show his skills to his teammates. Usually the only art of his they saw were the ink drawn animals that he could bring to life with his chakra. Other than that the only time they saw his art work was during their first mission together. "Sakura-san, I'll have it finished for you by the end of the night." Sai smiled at his teammate, he was overjoyed that her and Naruto were in awe of his work, and he wanted to make sure that the finished picture would have the same effect on the two.

Sakura suddenly remembered what she had to ask Sai before he began to work on finishing the painting. "Oh Sai, I was wondering, would you like to come to dinner with us and Ino to celebrate Naruto's birthday with us?" Sakura waited for Sai to respond, she had hoped he'd be a little energetic, instead he just nodded his head and began to pack his supplies. "Sai, can't you show more emotion than that? Oh forget it, just be at the restaurant that Ino picked out in a half hour ok?"

Sai nodded, and smiled to Sakura. "Sakura-san, I decided that as my Gift to Naruto-kun I'm not going to charge you or him for the painting."

What could Sakura say; the thought behind it was so simple. Sai was just using his natural talents to give a gift to his teammate. Sakura was smiling brightly; by the end of the night she knew that Naruto was going to regard this as his best birthday ever. She turned from Sai and grabbed her boyfriends arm. The couple had a half hour to meet Ino and her team at the restaurant. She wanted to get there in the next couple of minutes just to gauge how the workers would react to Naruto being there. That way if there was any fuss she'd be able to smooth it over before anyone else showed up.

The couple showed up to the place that Ino had picked. Sakura had never heard of it, the Hunan Renaissance. It sounded nice, but Sakura had no idea what to expect when they entered. They were stopped before they could make it to the door. "Sakura! Naruto! Over here!" Ino was across the street waiting for the couple with her teammates, and a few others from their group of friends. Ino waved them over emphatically. Ino looked so excited, Sakura couldn't believe how much their friends were getting into this night, and how much effort they were putting forth to make this a special night for Naruto. This display of friendship was about to bring a tear to her eyes. The mood was suddenly broken however.

"Hey guys! What the hell are you all waiting outside for!?" Of course Naruto had to break the moment. Everyone just started laughing; only Naruto could ruin a moment that was meant for him. Sometimes his old childish demeanor still came through, and that moment just happened to be one of them. Naruto realized what he had done, and decoded to make up for it before he allowed Sakura the chance to punish him. "Hehe, sorry guys, I just got a little excited, it's been such a great night I couldn't control myself." Naruto smiled at everyone, hoping they would believe his quick thinking.

Sakura knew why he said the line. She had a feeling that he was trying to diffuse the situation that he created. Sometimes she couldn't believe that this man was Naruto, the former loud mouthed prankster. This man in front of her was able to outsmart Shikamaru, and overpower Gai and Kakashi at the same time. For some reason she never thought Naruto was bound by normal standards, and her theory was constantly proved right as he grew in speed, power, intelligence, and maturity. The thing that always made her smile is just how much Naruto resembled a fox in both his manner, and his expressions. She laughed at this thought, Naruto's prankster side, his loud behavior, and his stupid act all reminded her just of a fox. At the same time his quiet demeanor during missions, his quick thinking while fighting, and his ability to create devastating tactics on the fly also reminded her of the fox.

Naruto turned while laughing to see his girlfriend deep in thought. Sakura tended to do this around one of his untimely outbursts. He was shaken a bit, was she questioning why she was with him? Or maybe comparing him to his older self. "Sakura, what are you thinking about?'

Sakura jerked back, she wasn't expecting Naruto to ask her a straight forward question like that. She didn't know how to respond to him, she was panicking. What was she going to say? Nothing came to her mind, and she knew Naruto was waiting for a response. "Uh, I was thinking about how much you've changed over the years, but I was also thinking about how much you remind me of a fox." Sakura couldn't believe she just said her thoughts out loud. Let alone to Naruto. She knew she still had issues speaking openly with him, but this just took the cake.

Naruto started laughing. He knew Sakura still had trust issues, but this just made him laugh. He knew she had told him the exact truth, because she was standing in front of him blushing, with her eyes tightly shut, and tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Naruto stepped close to her, and wrapped his arms around her body. He hugged her as tight as he could without causing any pain. "Sakura, I'm sorry for laughing, but that was just too funny. So you really think I remind you of a fox?" Naruto was stroking her back comforting his girlfriend.

She began to feel something from her boyfriend. His body was vibrating a bit, and he was making a rumbling noise. Sakura stopped for a second and began to laugh. Here he was, holding her, and Naruto had begun to purr. Oh this was too funny for her; she couldn't stop the laughter that was coming from her. She had just commented how much Naruto resembled a fox, and he was here purring against her. "So anything else about you that I should know? Do you also bark?" Sakura hugged her boyfriend tight.

"Nah I don't bark, but I'll tell you what. One day I'll show you how I can yelp." Naruto laughed at his joke, but was brought out of his fits of laughter by someone behind him making light of his situation. He forgot that his friends were watching them and let go of Sakura. Oh was he ever embarrassed, and he knew Sakura would be too. It didn't help that Temari was laughing at the sight she had just seen, but Ino was there fawning over the exchange. "Ok you guys have had your fun making fun of us, what are we waiting for?"

Ino looked at the couple and smiled. It really warmed her heart knowing that Sakura had gotten over Sasuke. What made it even better was the fact that Naruto treated Sakura like she was a goddess. That's not to say that Sakura didn't treat Naruto like gold, in fact Sakura made sure to do everything within her limits to keep her boyfriend happy. These two were definitely a match made in heaven. Ino looked at Naruto and decided to answer his question straight up. "Well originally it was just going to be the seven of us." Ino motioned to the three members of her group, and nodded to Sakura, and pointed out that Sai was approaching the group. "I decided that while a small private party is all well and good, but a group of friends celebrating one of the others birthday is a very big deal. So we're waiting for the others to show up." Just as she said those words Hinata and her male teammates showed up. Lee could be heard in the not so far distance and Neji was walking towards them in a brisk manner. "Well it looks like we're just waiting for Lee and Tenten, but we heard them so it shouldn't be more than a minute."

Naruto was astonished; his entire group of friends were going to celebrate his birthday with him. The last group to hang out with him on his birthday was Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shizune, and Kakashi, and that event had been years ago. He remembered that event so well, it was one of the last times he had spent with his former master where the two weren't bickering, or acting like fools.

This time was different though; everyone he grew up with was standing around, showing up for dinner just to spend time with him. It almost made Naruto cry. He actually had to excuse himself for a second and walked away from the group. No one understood the reason for Naruto to walk away, let alone why a few of them saw tears rolling down his face.

Naruto went a bit away from the group; he needed a little time to collect his emotions. It wasn't manly to let others see him cry, let alone cry over something so trivial. He didn't notice that one of his friends had followed him, let alone that that person was now standing next to him.

"Come on now dickless, it can't be that bad." Sai definitely had a way with words.

Naruto looked up at his teammate, and just couldn't believe it. The comment should have made him angry; he should punch Sai right in the face for it. Yet he couldn't stop the laughter that began to billow out of him. "Sai, you know sometimes you say the worst things, but that's got to be the funniest way to cheer someone up that I have ever heard." Naruto put his hand out, and waited for Sai to do the same. When he did Naruto shook the other man's hand and laughed again. "I think it's time we get back to the group, we don't want to keep them waiting." Naruto began to walk away; he casually looked over his shoulder at his teammate and smiled. "Thanks man, for some strange reason that really helped."

Sai just smiled as the two joined the group and went into the restaurant.

The dinner blew by so fast; everyone was talking, eating, and drinking. One of the most prevalent topics was how Naruto performed so many pranks as a kid, and never got caught. Of course this led to a few of them wondering how he didn't get caught when he tagged the Hokage Mountain. Naruto laughed and decided to tell everyone. "Oh that's simple; I had been running from those jonin for years, it got to the point where even anbu black ops had trouble catching me. As to why they never found me, I grew up on the streets here in the village; I know every nook and cranny this town has. Trust me, if I don't want someone to find me here in town, they never will." Naruto laughed and the conversation continued. All up till the point that Ino had planned.

The lights in the dining room suddenly dimmed, and a bunch of the restaurants employees came over holding a big cake, with a single candle on top. The entire group sang happy birthday to Naruto, who in turn blew out the candles. Right afterwards one of the staff members took a picture of the entire group using the camera that Ino had asked them to use. The festivities weren't over yet. His friends that hadn't given him gifts earlier began to hand them to him now.

Lee gave him a black training suit that looked just like his. "I know you won't wear the green one, so I figured black would work." Naruto just laughed at the statement. It was true, he wouldn't wear the green one, but black wasn't bad. Sakura however had other thoughts. She was wondering exactly how Naruto would look in such a tight get up. The image in her head gave her a nose bleed, which no one took notice of.

Tenten gave Him a set of obsidian Kunai. "I know they're not as physically strong as metal ones, but they hold an edge better, and can be hardened with chakra. Naruto thanked the older female, and held one of the new weapons in his hand. They were definitely lighter than a normal kunai; he couldn't wait to try them out.

Next was Neji, he had a hard time thinking of a gift for the blonde, that's when he decided to go to the book store. There he had found a set of every book ever written by Jiraiya. This gift got him some cold stares from the girls, especially since Jiraiya was known to have written the Icha Icha series. However it brightened up Naruto's evening. He never had been able to get his hands on all the volumes his former master had written, even some of his older works before the Icha Icha series had become collector's items that were hoarded by loyal fans of the old pervert.

Everyone stared at Ino, Sai, and Sakura. Expecting more gifts to be given. Sai however made his gift idea known out loud. "I didn't really get you anything Naruto-kun, I had no idea today was your birthday, so I'm going to give you that painting for free." This made a few people stare at the calm man in a strange fashion.

Naruto broke the questioning glares by thanking Sai for such a generous gift, and that he couldn't wait for the painting to be complete.

Ino announced that she was paying for the dinner, and that was her gift to Naruto, and the fact that she herself had set up the entire dinner.

Finally Sakura spoke up. "I'm sorry Naruto; I didn't get you a gift. I got so wrapped up in the festival, and making sure everything for tonight was perfect." Sakura began to cry a bit as tears began rolling down her face. "When I remembered I tried to come up with a great idea, since everyone else was giving such thoughtful gifts. My idea was to have a picture of you and I taken together, but that turned into the painting, which is now Sai's gift to you. Another idea was the picture of us all together, but that kind of connects with Ino's gift. I am so sorry, but I really don't have anything to give you." At this Sakura began to openly cry.

Naruto for his part just smiled. "What do you mean you didn't get me a gift? That's not true at all and you know it." Sakura looked at Naruto who was looking right at her with a huge smile on his face. "You got me to come to the festival; you won me that wicked mini sword. You gave a few of our friends the opportunity to give me gifts by sacrificing your own ideas. You have gone out of your way to make sure that tonight was memorable. So I'm asking you, how can you sit there and say you didn't get me a gift, when all of tonight has been the most perfect gift I have ever received?"

To say that everyone was mesmerized by Naruto's statement would be an understatement. Sakura above all was taken aback by his little speech. She never really thought of it that way, she didn't think that by just showing him a good time on his birthday that she had given him a gift. Sakura threw herself into Naruto's arms and began to cry into his formal shirt. She was so happy, and his words were just making it so much better.

The others took in the sight, and watched as it warmed their hearts. Temari on the other hand had a few choice words for her boyfriend. "Hey, lazy ass. Why can't you say stuff like that to me?'

Shikamaru just sat there cursing the day that Naruto learned how to charm and cheer up women.


	9. Chapter 9

The group finished their meal. It didn't go without entertainment as Temari continued to berate her boyfriend for not showing his emotions openly. Much to everyone's surprise though Shikamaru ended the fight rather quickly as he leaned in and whispered something to his hot tempered girlfriend. When he pulled away from her ear everyone noticed that the Blonde female was blushing uncontrollably. While the shadow user could do nothing but smile due to his small victory over his significant other.

Everyone wanted to know what had happened in the exchange. Neither of the couple would say anything. Naruto however laughed as loud as possible. The group decided that they wanted to go get set up to watch the fireworks, which would be starting in about twenty minutes. The group headed towards the center of town. They knew that's where most of the town would be gathered. As they were walking Naruto caught up to Shikamaru and slapped him on the back. The shadow manipulator wasn't too pleased with the action, and was even more offset by the statement that Naruto was saying.

"So, you can use your shadow to take her clothes off from across the room? That must be great in public when you want to end a fight when you're surrounded by a group of friends!" Naruto smirked and watched as his friends face took on a shocked expression. Shikamaru couldn't believe it, how did Naruto know what he had threatened to do to Temari. He had whispered it, and had barely made his voice loud enough for Temari to hear it, let alone Naruto who was across the table from them.

"Naruto, how did you know what I said to her?" Shikamaru wanted to know, he couldn't get it out of his head that Naruto had heard him. Was Naruto using a new jutsu to improve his hearing? Had he made a shadow clone that listened in on the quick comment? Just what did he do? These questions were eating away at the Nara man. He had to know exactly what Naruto had done to get that info.

"Man that's easy to answer. I heard you say it. Let me tell you Shikamaru, I never expected you to be the type to get into kinky sex!" Naruto chuckled as his friends face went pale. "Look man, I'm not going to lie to you. I can hear almost everything that is said within two hundred meters of where I am. Right now I can hear the heartbeat of every person in our group. I can tell you that Sakura and Ino are up there talking about how smooth I was when I said that little speech to Sakura. Kiba is trying to say something just like that to Hinata, and let me tell you, by the way her heart is beating she's loving every word." Naruto had truly shocked the Nara tactician. This new information added a new perspective to Naruto's talents.

"So how long have you been able to hear like that?" Shikamaru was highly suspicious of this little confession. He was hoping that this increase in hearing had been something recent, maybe something Naruto got from being the container for the Kyubi.

Naruto just lowered his head a bit and reflected on the question. When he finally answered his voice was low, just barely audible enough for Shikamaru to hear it. "It's been like that since I was maybe thirteen. While I was on my training trip with Jiraiya he helped me hone the skill so I could hear more than just the stuff that was around me. Because of his training I can hear people heart beats, which makes it easy to tell whether or not an enemy is scared or, whether or not a friend is lying to me. The best thing about it is that during missions very few people can sneak up on my position." Naruto looked at his friend and had a pleading look in his eyes. "Shikamaru, I'm asking you, don't tell anyone. They wouldn't like the fact that I can hear a lot of the things they say. Especially don't tell Sakura. If she knew that I heard most of the comments she made about me before I left for my trip, she'd hate herself."

Shikamaru understood exactly what the blonde jinchuriki was saying. Thank god Shikamaru found it too troublesome to make fun of his friend. Especially since Naruto had helped him through some issues that he had in the past, some of which had put Shikamaru on edge. "You can trust me man, you know it's too troublesome to even bother telling anyone else. Besides I'd have to explain how I found out, and how long you've been hiding this from everyone. So now that we're on the topic of hidden talents. What else can you do?"

Naruto stared at his friend, why would Shikamaru want to know what he could do. Then it hit him. Shikamaru needed that kind of information so he could create tactics that used Naruto's strengths, and limited his weaknesses. "Well since you need to know, I have heightened hearing, sense of smell, and I can see perfectly in the dark. Also as you've seen I can manipulate my enemies with short sighted tactics. Well they're not so short sighted. I can create complex tactics on the fly, they're not as well thought out, nor as detailed as yours, but I can create them faster and execute them with precision."

Shikamaru had expected most of this, but the eye sight, and smell had thrown a quick loop for him. "How long have you been able to do this stuff Naruto?"

Knowing that the best way to diffuse the situation was to tell the truth Naruto just stopped in his tracks. "I'm not going to lie to you, I have had the heightened senses for years, the quick thinking has been going on for a long time, but I'm just recently employing it to battles. I used to think out my pranks, and escape routes. I never really ever thought to use it for fighting, well until I played a prank on Tsunade and Jiraiya. After that Jiraiya made me practice planning out my fights while on the fly. He said it would make me an even stronger fighter. I had no clue what I could have done in fights and missions had I actually thought things through, instead of shooting from the hip." Naruto waited to see his friends' reaction. He wasn't expecting what the shadow user was about to say.

"You know, you really are the most unpredictable person I have ever met. Thanks for telling me that stuff though. You know, now that I have that info I can plan better around your abilities." Shikamaru put his hand to his chin. How could he have missed such things? Truth was some of Naruto's abilities had been shoved into his face on numerous occasions. Well it just proved that sometimes even the most obvious of things could be ignored. "All right, let's catch up with everyone. We need to get there early; I heard Tsunade has a speech that she's making to the entire village."

"Hmm, I wonder what the old broad has to say to everyone." Naruto just shook his head and quickened his pace to catch up to his group of friends.

The group gathered in the village square. A stage had been set up so the Hokage could make an announcement to everyone in the crowd. Naruto caught up to everyone just as they had reached the stage, Shikamaru was a little further behind him. Whatever Tsunade was going to say had to be big, the entire council was shifting around the side of the stage; they had even created their own small makeshift area for seating. Something told Naruto that whatever was about to happen couldn't be good. Only really bad thing brought the council out of their stuffy meeting room. Let alone for them to be seen together in public. Naruto didn't want to be here, he knew this was going to somehow go downhill. Much to his surprise he was proven right.

An older jonin happened to stumble into the square, no more than twenty feet away from where the group was gathered. The older man was visibly intoxicated, and had caught sight of Naruto. "What the hell is the Demon doing here?" The man was slurring his speech. He wasn't put off by the fact that he was in public. He staggered towards the group of younger Ninja. This guy wasn't going to let an opportunity to belittle the Kyubi brat. "Hey Demon, why are you here. Haven't you done enough damage? Heh? Am I not good enough for you to talk to, huh, why don't you say something you piece of shit? Didn't you do enough damage to this village, why did they let you live?"

Naruto heard the man's comment; he smelled the alcohol even from his distance. The worst thing of the matter was the man's heart beat. It wasn't speeding up. This guy wanted to provoke Naruto, and he was definitely trying to get a rise out of him. Naruto just figured that the man had courage in the liquid form running through his veins. Too much alcohol and the beer muscles were kicking in. Naruto wasn't going to lose face though, not in front of everyone here. He turned his attention to the older man, and decided to talk his way out of the situation. "Sorry man, I don't know who you're talking about; there isn't a demon here, just a group of off duty shinobi, waiting to see some fireworks." Naruto was happy with himself; he figured the situation was dealt with.

"Bullshit brat!" The older ninja felt he had been disrespected. No one was going to do that to him. "You think you're all high and mighty, just because you nearly destroyed this town eighteen years ago. Why don't you try again or are you too scared that we'd be able to finish the job that the Yondaime started?" This guy wasn't giving up. Naruto noticed it; the guy's adrenaline was beginning to pump. This guy meant business. Naruto had to find a way to stop what was going on and he had to do it fast.

"Listen, I'm not the Kyubi, I'm just a jonin just like you. I didn't try to destroy the village eighteen years ago, how could I, I was just born that day. I'm sorry that you feel that I want to destroy Konoha. But that's not what I want to do. This place is my home, and I have fought just as hard as everyone else to protect it. In fact I was the one who stopped Akatsuki from finishing the job that Kyubi had started. I figured everyone would acknowledge that. I guess some people can't drop the issue that I'm a Jinchuriki." Naruto knew he had hit a nerve in the drunken man, since the older jonins heart beat jumped.

"Who the hell do you think you are, we all know you're the one who sent the Akatsuki here in the first place! You're just trying to get our confidence in you so you can finish the job. Well I'm not fooled." The older man threw a glass bottle at Naruto; everyone in the area was shocked. No one had ever attempted such an open display of violence towards the Kyubi container, let alone did it in the presence of the council, and the Hokage. Naruto however was used to such things. He grabbed the bottle from the air and with a quick sprint returned it to the bar the man had walked out of. Everyone was shocked; Naruto had passed the old man in the blink of an eye, and didn't even touch him.

The younger jonins knew what had happened. Naruto was showing off his speed to prove that if he had wanted to hurt the man then he could have. The council saw the entire thing, many were impressed by the display of Naruto's patience, a few others however weren't too happy about the boys presence, let alone his actions. Most of the clan heads on the council held Naruto in high regard. He had changed many things in the village for the better. Many of the clan heads themselves had run ins with the young man that had changed them for the better. Hyuuga Hiashi was the most prominent of these individuals.

The Hyuuga clan head had run into Naruto not long after the defeat of Pein. He took it upon himself to treat the young man to a nice meal to show his appreciation of how Naruto protected the village from the Akatsuki's powerful leader. It was during this meal that the two began talking about how Naruto had influenced a few people in the Hyuuga household, mainly Neji, and Hinata. Naruto decided that he was going to fulfill his promise to both Hinata and Neji. He personally requested that Hiashi put an end to the Hyuuga using the caged bird seal on the members of the Branch family.

Hiashi had been taken back by the outrageous request. Who was Naruto to ask such a thing of him? Let alone who was he to change a tradition of the Hyuuga clan set up to keep the Byakugan within the confines of Konoha. It was then that Naruto politely explained that the use of the seal was doing nothing but creating a family of slaves that could be used by anyone in the branch family. That such a seal could in the future be used in a manner that did not coincide with its intended use. Or that a power hungry main family member could take control of the entire clan by using the branch members as unwilling soldiers.

Hiashi had never thought of it like that before. The seal could be manipulated in such manners. How could these concepts never have crossed his mind? If a member of the main family decided to do such atrocious things, who could stop them? With the Uchiha gone there wasn't a clan that could stand against the Hyuuga. The whole situation was a powder keg that could go at any minute, and no one but Hiashi could regulate it. The simple request of Naruto's convinced the Hyuuga head that the boy was in fact not the Kyubi.

Within three months of their meal, and after hearing Naruto's request Hiashi had over ruled the Hyuuga council and had abolished the further use of the caged bird seal. The decision rocked all of Konoha, but for certain individuals it had been something that was long overdue.

Now Hiashi sat across a stage watching as Naruto tried to show his assailant patience, and compassion. The man was having none of this. The Hyuuga head wanted to see the outcome, and also wanted to see how the older more stubborn members of the council would handle the entire situation.

Naruto turned back to the man that was verbally insulting him and just smiled. He couldn't do anything in such a public place, and he had tried to calm the man down. Nothing he thought of was working. He had no ideas; no one was really expecting what he did next. Naruto approached the man. He didn't speak, nor did he threaten him. Upon reaching the belligerent drunk Naruto kneeled on the ground and bowed. "I am sorry that you feel that I am the Kyubi, I am also sorry if anyone you knew or loved was killed that night. But you have to understand, I am not the Kyubi no Kitsune."

The man wasn't impressed. He didn't want sympathy from the demon. He did the only thing he could think of at the moment. The drunken man cocked his leg back and kicked Naruto right in the head. "How dare you talk to me like that?" The man was screaming now. "You think I'd forgive you just because you apologize?" The man kicked Naruto again, but the blonde didn't budge. He stayed right where he was.

The crowd in the village square was gasping as the drunken man continued to kick Naruto. They were appalled by the older jonins behavior. The council sat and watched as Naruto continued to take the beating. All of them knew that the blonde jonin could tear the older man limb from limb. A few of them wondered why he didn't do just that. It had dawned on a few of the others that Naruto was handling the situation in the best way possible. He was garnering sympathy from the crowd around him.

The drunken older man went for another kick, but was suddenly stopped by a punch to his face. The jonin fell backwards and couldn't stop himself from hitting the ground hard. He turned to where he had been punched from. There stood an Anbu member wearing a mask that resembled a bear. The anbu member walked towards the drunken jonin, and grabbed his shoulder. "You are under arrest for attacking a fellow shinobi of the leaf." The anbu picked the drunkard up and brought his face closer to his own mask. "You should be happy that you're only being arrested, if you had provoked that kid long enough I'm sure your body would have ended up in pieces." The anbu didn't hold back the contempt from his voice.

Naruto had earned the respect of the entire anbu. It took almost every member of anbu to fight just one incarnation of Pein, while Naruto had destroyed all six bodies in one fight. "Naruto-sama, I apologize that I didn't get here sooner, none of us expected for anyone to even try such a thing. Please forgive the anbu for not stopping him before you got injured."

Naruto just brushed some dirt off of his body and smiled at the anbu standing in front of him. "It doesn't matter. He's just drunk, let him sober up and he wouldn't have done it." Naruto's action had thoroughly impressed the crowd around him. How could he be so forgiving for what that man had just said? "Just take him to a drunken tank or something; I kind of want to enjoy the rest of my night."

The anbu took away the drunk man in the blink of an eye. Everyone began to talk about what had just happened. Their attention was so intense that no one had seen Tsunade take the stage to make her speech.

* * *

Notes, I will have the next chapter up tomorrow morning. i am getting back into the swing of typing up this story, and i really am enjoying where it's going. Just to let everyone know the next two chapters are going to answer some of your questions that you have been asking me in your reviews.


	10. Chapter 10

Tsunade took the stage after the incident with the drunken jonin. She was thoroughly impressed with how Naruto had held in his anger. Had an incident like that happened a few years prior, the older man would have been laying in a heap at the blonde's feet. Something had changed in the young man in the last two years. He had matured, and grown physically, but he also began to use proper etiquette. She wasn't sure how he was going to feel about her upcoming speech, but she did know that it would affect him deeply. Tonight she had to turn his life upside down.

Naruto's gut was wrenching. He saw Tsunade on the stage, and the sight of the Hokage was turning his stomach into knots. Why was he feeling this way? He turned to Sakura and tried to gauge her reaction to the Hokage standing on the stage. Sakura's face was showing a confused look as well. "Sakura, what's granny Tsunade doing up there?" Naruto definitely wasn't liking the situation.

"I don't know Naruto; she didn't say anything to me about making a speech. My big question is why are all the council members here?" Sakura pointed to the other side of the village center where the council members had congregated. "Whatever's going on has to be big to bring out the entire council." Sakura started thinking. Whatever Tsunade was about to say definitely had to be a big deal. How often did the council members show up together in public.

Shikamaru was having a hard time figuring out the situation as well. What was going to be said that was important enough to interrupt the biggest festival of the year? This had to be either really, really good, or horribly bad. As of right now it could go either way, since Tsunade was known to be good at hiding her emotions. Yet the way she kept glancing at Naruto made him ponder, just what was about to go down? Shikamaru walked over to Naruto and pulled him aside. "Naruto, whatever she's about to say has to deal with you directly. I've been watching her since she got on stage and Tsunade keeps glancing at you."

Naruto had noticed this as well. He also could hear Tsunade's heart beat increase slightly. Something was definitely about to happen, and Naruto was dreading it.

Tsunade cleared her throat and grabbed the attention of everyone in the village square. She steeled herself for what she was about to say. This decision had been weighing on her mind for a few months, and now with the go ahead from the council Tsunade was about to change Naruto's life. "Fellow Shinobi of the leaf. I am here tonight to announce a change in our village. Certain recent actions have happened within our Ninja ranks that have brought up questions about my strength and abilities due to my age." This was hard for Tsunade, she had spent years hiding her true age from the world, but now it was finally catching up to her. The battle with Pein had proven just that. She was no longer a twenty year old power house. She was older than fifty, and struggling with that fact. She knew it was time to focus on something else than running the villages day to day life. "It is with great regret that I have decided to relinquish the position of Hokage."

The crowd erupted into whispered conversations. Why would Tsunade give up being the Hokage, she looked so young, and acted like she was full of energy. Who could ever hope to replace her? The closest candidate was the copy ninja Kakashi, but he showed no interest in such responsibility. Let alone the fact that most of the women in the village were disturbed by how he constantly read his copy of Icha Icha. So who was she going to choose? Let alone who could defend the entire village from an attack like the one orchestrated by the sound over six years ago or the attack from Akatsuki three years ago?

Naruto's heart was racing, was Tsunade really about to retire? Who was she going to have as her replacement? Which of the jonin instructors was she about to pick? It couldn't be Kurenai; she was too busy raising her child. Gai? No way, he was way too energetic. Kakashi was the best possibility, and Naruto knew it. Well at least he could be sure that Tsunade would pick someone that could help the village prosper. That was all that truly mattered.

Tsunade calmed herself down and continued her speech. "With the agreement of the council, and my personal request the new Hokage has been picked. I would now like to introduce the Rokudaime of the Leaf. Would Uzumaki Naruto please come here!" Tsunade held her hand towards the group of younger jonin. Naruto's face looked shocked.

Naruto couldn't move. Did Tsunade really say his name? What was going on here? Naruto couldn't comprehend the situation. He didn't make indication that he was going to move, until he felt a hand on his left arm. He turned to see Sakura, and his friends staring at him. They were all had huge smiles on their faces. Sakura pushed Naruto forward towards the stage. He climbed up and crossed the stage in front of the entire crowd. Half the village had to have been present, let alone most of the shinobi. The entire area was silent; no one knew exactly what to say

Naruto reached where Tsunade was and stopped just short of her side. The older blonde smiled and turned back towards the gathered crowd. "Ladies and gentleman. I would like to introduce to you the future Rokudaime, Uzumaki Naruto!" Tsunade stepped back and smiled as the crowd erupted into cheers. Here was Naruto's dream finally realized. He had received the attention and respect of almost the entire village. Only a few of the staunch elders or ignorant villagers held any resentment towards the young man. He had proven himself time and time again, and now it was time for him to reap the benefits of his years of hard work.

The shinobi of the leaf weren't too surprised. The choice for Tsunade's successor could only have come down between Naruto and Kakashi, and most people preferred Naruto's outgoing personality to Kakashi's lax perverted one. None of them however thought it was going to happen so soon. Everyone had figured Tsunade had at least another decade of leadership under her belt.

Naruto's head was swimming. This was way too soon for him. He hadn't even had the chance to teach a genin team. Let alone spend any time as an anbu black ops agent. He still had so much he wanted to do before he ever took the position of Hokage. How was he supposed to tell his feelings to Tsunade in front of everyone? All he could do was smile and wave as the crowd cheered and whistled. He looked at his friends who were all jumping around with excitement. How was he supposed to disappoint them, let alone turn down the position when the entire village was celebrating such an event?

As the celebratory cheers continued Tsunade grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him away from the crowd. She had to explain her position to him and now was the only time to do so, since the young jonin had skipped out on her earlier that morning before she could tell him of her decision. She decided to tell him exactly why she had told the entire village. "Naruto I know this is sudden, but there is a reason why I told the village this way. Naruto tomorrow I'm sending you on an extended mission with Kakashi. The two of you are going to train for an indeterminate amount of time. He's going to prep you for the job, and also take you around to other countries to expand your political clout." Tsunade put her arm over the young man's Shoulder and gave him a sideways embrace. "There's also a reason for the mission. As of tonight you're eighteen, I have a duty put forth to me by the third. I am supposed to tell the village about your heritage, and just exactly who your parents are."

Naruto nodded to Tsunade, he knew telling the village who his mother and father were was going to be a big deal, and the repercussions could be a problem. "So you're really going to tell them all that The Yondaime was my father?" Naruto hung his head a bit. Talking about the Yondaime had brought up mixed emotions in him. The man had saved the village in its time of need. But he had essentially damned Naruto's childhood. "How are you going to explain to them that my parents hid the fact that they were married, let alone that I'm their kid?" Naruto thought for a minute, something didn't seem right. Naruto knew Tsunade was about to explain the situation, but Naruto figured it out on his own. "So the mission is to keep me out of Konoha until I'm ready to take control, so that my father's old enemies don't target the leaf."

Tsunade knew Naruto would figure it out soon enough, but not on the fly like that. "So when did you figure it out?" Tsunade was smirking.

"The moment you said you were telling the village who my parents were. It's a ploy not only to give this stunt a concrete foundation, but it should garner the villagers to back me completely. The only problem is that some of the old shinobi in the rock and mist would love to get at the son of the yellow flash. Yet if he's in power they wouldn't touch him, unless he was out wandering the country side. So this is also a way to get me and Kakashi to improve our skills, and maybe work out or differences." Naruto looked up at the older blonde with a smile in his face. "I took some lessons from Shikamaru; you can't play me for a fool all the time granny."

Naruto's last comment earned him a hard smack upside his head. "I don't care if I chose you as my successor, if you don't stop calling me Granny I'll knock you around till all nine tails fall off that damn fox inside you!" Tsunade Glared at Naruto and began to exude a high amount of killing intent directed straight at the younger blonde. She didn't have a chance to continue to threaten him though, since the younger blonde was too busy laughing his ass off at the older shinobi. "What the hell is so funny brat?"

Naruto put his hands behind his head. He couldn't stop himself. "Your threat, it's not really threatening anymore. Especially since Sakura can do more damage than you!" Naruto kept laughing for another second and then stopped abruptly. "Umm I'll take your threat serious, if you never, ever tell Sakura to hit me instead of you doing it yourself."

Tsunade eased up on the blonde. She knew he feared his girlfriend, for some reason he could take the full blown attack of the world's strongest organization, but when a girl hit him it was over. "Deal, you'll meet me tomorrow at one in the afternoon. I'll go over everything with you and Kakashi then." Naruto nodded and began to walk away when he was suddenly stopped by Tsunade's voice. "Naruto, it'd be a good idea to tell Sakura tonight what's going to happen. Don't make the same mistake your former master made."

Naruto knew that Tsunade meant Jiraiya. He turned and hurried off to rejoin the group of friends. When he got back to the group everyone was on him. They couldn't stop asking him questions, like how long had he known what was going on? Or what he planned on doing as a Hokage? Naruto was a bit overwhelmed so he decided to just give it to everyone straight. "No I had no idea the old bat was going to do this. I have no clue what I'm going to do till I get the position. Last, it's not going to be for a while since apparently I have to leave on another training trip." This last comment caught Sakura's attention.

"Training trip? When does this one start, and how long is it going to be for?" Sakura was worried. Her boyfriends' last trip had been three years long, and in that time she had fallen almost head over heels for the blonde. Now here he was saying that he had to leave again, what would she do if it ended up being another extended trip?

Naruto shrugged his shoulder and decided to tell her exactly what he knew, he excused himself from the crowd and motioned Sakura to follow suit. The two ran from the village square and headed towards the Hokage Mountain. Naruto figured that he could talk to Sakura in private up there, and still have a nice view of the fireworks.

The two reached the top, and sat on the Yondaime's head. It was a bit unnerving for Naruto, since the Yondaime was kind of the one that created all these problems for him. Yet he couldn't hold it against him, since the fourth had also given him so much. The rasengan, the Kyubi, even though it was a blessing in disguise. Above all the Yondaime had fathered him, well in the biological way. "Naruto looked at Sakura and began to explain the entire situation.

"Sakura it's like this. Tsunade just told me a few minutes ago. I found out about being the next Hokage right when you guys did. Right now Tsunade baa-chan is making another announcement that will shock most of the village, and may very well change my life for the worst." Sakura looked shocked, what could Tsunade tell the village that would make Naruto's life worse than it had been years ago? "She's telling them all right now exactly who my parents are, and why I was chosen as the vessel for the Kyubi."

Sakura interrupted Naruto's explanations with a question. "But didn't the Yondaime seal kyubi in you because you were an orphan?" This is what Sakura had come to believe since finding out about the Kyubi being inside of Naruto. This is what most of the village who knew what Naruto carried thought as well.

Naruto decided to tell her exactly why he was an orphan. "I wasn't an orphan till after he sealed the Kyubi in me. My mother, Uzumaki Kushina had died during labor. I was born while the Kyubi was attacking the village. My father decided that the only way to stop the Kyubi from completely destroying the village was to seal him within me, while sacrificing his own life. My father gave his life to seal away the Kyubi into me, and died with the hopes that the village would view me as a hero!" Naruto looked down at the ground; he then slammed his foot hard onto the rock that made the Yondaime's head. "I never got to meet my old man, or my mother, but I grew up idolizing him, and staring at his mug every day."

Sakura just looked at Naruto with a blank stare. "Naruto you're making it sound like the fourth Hokage was your father."

Naruto laughed at Sakura's statement. "Sakura, haven't you been listening to me? That's exactly what I'm saying."

* * *

Authors note. Yes i know, everyone was expecting that from me. But come on, in my description i even said Naruto was on track to become hokage. Now that i ahve written it, you guys are finally about to get the answer to your question. Why are Sakura and Naruto going to break up? this will be answered in the next chapter. the next chapter will also have a fight between Naruto and Kakashi.

Also i'd like it to be known. I do not hate naru/saku. And i am not making this story the essential Sakura runs to Sasuke, and abandons Naruto.


	11. Chapter 11

Naruto put his hand out waiting for Sakura to take it. He knew the information he just gave her was hard to believe. Who could believe it? The village had gone eighteen years thinking that he was just a random orphan, and that the Yondaime had no significant other, let alone that the two had an offspring. The village council had kept a very tight seal on that bit of information, so had the Hokage. It was still surprising that Naruto had known for as long as he had.

He would probably still be in the dark had Jiraiya no told him of his lineage. It was so simple that Naruto couldn't understand how he had never figured it out. What kind of man would sacrifice a child of unknown origin to the hardships that Naruto had gone through? Only a father could have put his own son in that situation. Yet Naruto had learned that his father's hope was that he would be seen by the villagers not as the Kyubi, but as a hero for containing the Kyubi within himself. Unfortunately his father's plan hadn't gone that way.

Jiraiya had told him there was no other way to save the village, and that his father sacrificed his own life, so that Naruto could grow up and live a normal life. Well things never turn out the way we plan. Naruto knew his father wanted him to be praised, and in a strange way isn't that what ended up happening in the end. If tonight's cheering had any indication than Naruto knew he was finally accepted by the village whole heartedly. This above all was really the only thing he ever wanted growing up. Now at the age of eighteen he had it all. He was going to be the Rokudaime, He was one of the most powerful ninja in the world, and he had Sakura.

That thought was brought to an end as Sakura took Naruto's hand and pulled herself off the ground. It was a lot to go over in one's head. Her boyfriend was the next Hokage; he was the Jinchuriki for the Kyubi no kitsune, and now she found out that he was the son of the village's most beloved ruler. It was as if Naruto's life was just one big surprise after the other. She still couldn't believe how she treated him as a kid, and now she knew that she had bad mouthed the son of the Fourth. Wait a second she was dating the son of the fourth Hokage. That meant that Naruto was practically aristocracy in the village. Now if that wasn't a boost to her confidence, nothing else that happened that night would be. "So, Naruto, what do we do now?"

Naruto just laughed and shrugged his shoulders. He hadn't expected Sakura to take this news so easily. He had planned on her blowing up in his face for never telling her who his parents were. "Well, since you're running this event, I figured you would have something planned after the fireworks." Naruto smiled at her. He knew she was coming to terms with what she had learned, but he couldn't let the information change who he was or how he acted. He pulled Sakura into an embrace and held her tight to him. "This changes nothing between us does it?"

His question wasn't unexpected. Naruto was a very insecure person when it came to dating. Early in their relationship he was always asking her questions. Was he doing this right, was he not doing something the way it should be done, or her favorite, When will I know when to kiss you? Naruto was definitely insecure, but after a few weeks he had grown tired of asking those questions. Yet every once in awhile one would come through, just like right now, and every time he asked, it brightened up her mood. That was Naruto, trying his best at something. "Of course nothing has changed; you're still my idiot teammate, and my caring boyfriend. Now you're both of those plus the incumbent Hokage, and the son of a former Hokage."

He laughed at her comment. He couldn't react any other way. It was just too perfect for him, and yet it was the only way he could have imagined it. Naruto looked down to Sakura and lifted the hair out of her eyes. He put his right hand under her chin and raised it up a bit so he could see her face. As he did that he bent down and captured her mouth in a kiss. The moment was made so much better by the fireworks going off over the village. 'I wouldn't want to be anywhere but here.' Naruto kept saying that line in his head.

The two separated as the fireworks died down. Sakura was blushing a deep red, while Naruto couldn't stop smiling. The moment was perfect. Just the whole scene around them was nothing but perfection, and Sakura knew it. There was just something about Naruto at that moment that made her want him all to herself. She turned her head to look over the village. The festival was over, and she couldn't help but figure it was time to end their date. Sakura turned to Naruto and smiled. "Naruto, I think it's time you walk me home."

Naruto's face lost a bit of its emotion; he didn't want the night to end. He however held his arm out to his girlfriend and took her hand in his. "Ok Sakura, I'll walk you to your doorstep."

Sakura giggled a bit; Naruto hadn't caught on to her flirtatious statement. "No idiot, it's time you walk me to your apartment. We're spending the night together." Sakura smiled coyly at the man next to her. She made sure to shake her hips a bit as she drug her boyfriend along with her. "I don't want to be alone tonight, and I know you like to cuddle."

Naruto was in heaven. What else could go right at this moment? It didn't matter, right now he was walking home with Sakura and she was going to spend the night. He was glad that she had found a way to get him to clean his apartment. He had kept it organized ever since the first time she had spent the night. There was nothing more mood killing than seeing a clutter around a room. "If you're spending the night, don't you need a change of clothes?"

Sakura giggled again, she knew Naruto was still a bit reserved about her spending nights with him. It was too cute. "No silly, I'm going to wear one of your old shirts and borrow a pair of shorts." Sakura laughed as she watched Naruto's face go from shocked to questioning. "What's that face for?"

Naruto grinned in his fox like manner. "Who said you could wear my clothes? I think there's a rule at my place that says if you don't have your own sleeping attire then you have to sleep naked." He finished his comment with a lewd smile. Of course he knew how to ruin moments, and he had done just that. Or so he thought.

"Well that's fine, but do I at least get to dry off with a towel after taking a shower? Sakura didn't let her boyfriends comment throw her off, so she decided to throw one back at him. If his face was any indicator then Sakura knew her retort had surprised him even more. "What? Can't I have some fun too?" Sakura pouted and acted like she was about to cry, she was wrapping him around her finger and she knew he couldn't resist it.

"That's not true; you can have all the fun you want. Just not when it's at my expense." Naruto looked her in the face and bent down like he was going to kiss her. Sakura closed her eyes waiting for his lips to touch hers. She however was greeted with his tongue licking up the side of her face.

"Naruto, that's just not right!" Sakura wiped her face off. He had licked her from chin to forehead. And he was laughing about it hysterically. Oh how she hated when he played with her like that, but she had started it. "You know, I'd break your neck if I wasn't so taken with you."

Naruto just laughed harder at the situation he had caused. Sakura was red in the face with anger and embarrassment, but why? Nobody was around, so only the two of them knew what was going on. "You know Sakura, I always thought red was a great color on you, but not when your skin is that color." He couldn't stop himself; he reached for her arms again and pulled her close to him. This time he didn't play around. Naruto bent down and kissed her again, effectively ending the joking session. Upon releasing her he put his hand over hers and began to escort her back to his place.

On the other side of town Tsunade was in her office talking to Kakashi. "Kakashi, I am asking you to watch over him for the duration of this trip. You are to train with him and help him perfect his techniques." Tsunade held her head up with her hands. No more than an hour ago she had told the entire village the news of Naruto's heritage. She had half expected the young man to be present when she told everyone. However she had watched him walk off with Sakura before she had the chance to make her second speech.

Kakashi had heard the news; he was one of the select few who had known the truth for years. It was Kakashi's duty to watch over Naruto as his sensei, so he had to know everything there was about the kid. Now just six years later Kakashi was discovering other new things about the boy, and some of them infuriated him. Naruto had been hiding his strength and speed, and had even held back during the jonin exams. Those above all were what angered the silver haired ninja. He knew that he had trained the young man to hold back so as to not allow his enemies to see his full potential, but to do so against his sensei, and during a match that would showcase his prowess in front of other villages. "I understand Hokage-sama. I will watch over him without incident. When do we start this mission?"

Tsunade looked out her window. She didn't want to do this to Naruto, but he had to leave for a while. The international backlash would be through the roof. She also knew that he had to finally learn to perfect the techniques that he used. Naruto had to master the jutsus that he had learned, and be able to create them without the help from his shadow clones. She knew Kakashi would help him with such things. Also Naruto had to learn how to interact with people in a formal manner, and that was what she expected would take him awhile. "The mission will start within the next forty eight hours. I want you two to leave by the morning after next, since I know the two of you will be sorting out your issues tomorrow."

Kakashi was shocked, how did Tsunade know about his and Naruto's earlier confrontation? Not even Gai had a clue what had happened between the two male members of team seven. Kakashi stood up and headed towards the window. He turned just before he left. "We will resolve our issues; just don't let anyone get in the way." With that Kakashi leapt from the window and into the streets below.

Tsunade just looked out over the darkened village. "You guys may not see eye to eye right now, but I'm pretty confident that the resentments between you two will end tomorrow." With that said Tsunade stood from her chair, and left the room. She turned off the lights and locked the door, as she decided to head home to get some sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning Naruto woke up early. He turned over in his bed to look at the clock on his bed side table. The clocks blue glow hurt his eyes a bit. The clock read five fifteen. It was still pretty early, but Naruto knew he wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon. He turned over to see how Sakura was doing. She had managed to steal most of his pillows during the night, and had built herself a little wall on her opposite side. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful. It was almost too hard for him to go through with what he had planned. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. She didn't wake up, but she did roll over and hug his midsection.

Naruto wasn't too worried; he quickly made a shadow clone and did a quick switch using his replacement technique. At least Sakura would be able to cuddle with him, well a clone of him. Naruto went to his closet and grabbed a set of old training clothes. It was just a pair of black shorts, and a sleeveless black shirt with a crimson stripe running up along the spine. He headed to his front door, he knew that he was about to fight with Kakashi, and he could not prepare himself enough for the upcoming match.

He couldn't shake the feeling that this bout was going to end badly. It wasn't everyday him and Kakashi had fights, nor was it normal for the two of them to be frustrated with each other. Sure it was normal for one to be aggravated towards the other, usually Naruto due to Kakashi's tardiness. But this one had gone above and beyond anything between them. Kakashi had technically pulled Sakura into the mix by showing Naruto those perverted illusions the night before. That thought penetrated into Naruto's mind. How could Kakashi have ever done such a thing, unless the older man was really pissed at him? With that thought on his head Naruto raced to the memorial stone. He had an appointment with the copy ninja, and he was going to make sure that this one was going to be memorable.

Kakashi sat at the memorial stone. He spent most mornings here. To him it was the only way to stay connected with his former team. His sensei, Rin, and above all his best friend, Obito. He was the only surviving member of his genin squad, yet he had reminders of his three former comrades around him at all times. Obito was easily remembered since he had given Kakashi his left eye. Rin, because Sakura reminded him of her. His sensei, because Naruto was Minato Namikazi's only son. He lived with these reminders, and it broke his heart that sometimes he reverted back to the way he was before the mission where he had lost Obito. Yet he was even more heart broken right now that the person he considered his best student had held back against him during a test match.

He Thought Naruto wouldn't do such a thing to him, the young man was the first to attack him during team sevens original bell test. Hell Naruto had been the first to attack him during the second bell test that he administered, and in that match he felt confident that Naruto had gone all out at first. Yet the last match they had together, the one for Naruto's jonin exam, it felt like Naruto had held back. This belief was confirmed the day that Naruto and Lee had gone all out against each other. The sheer power of that match put his and Gai's fights to shame. Yet he felt almost robbed of being given the opportunity to gage just how far his pupil had become.

Kakashi was startled when he felt an immense chakra signature approaching him. There were only three people in the hidden leaf that could have such power. Gai, Lee, and Naruto. He knew that Gai, and Lee were already training outside the village. So that left Naruto and that also meant the young man was heading straight for him extremely fast. "So he wants to start this now." Kakashi stood up and walked away from the stone. He knew that Naruto would be in the clearing in another minute or two. This wasn't going to be a pleasant get together, but it had to be done, and it had to be finished by the time they left the next day. Kakashi pulled his head band up uncovering his Sharigan eye. If this meeting turned into a fight he was going to need all the help he could get.

Naruto cleared the trees and landed ten feet in front of Kakashi. The first thing the younger man noticed was that Kakashi had uncovered his eye. 'So Kakashi is going to go all out if we fight. I'd better keep my cool until it gets to that point.' Naruto calmly approached his team captain. This situation had to be dealt with in a tactful manner, and if all else failed he was going to kick the shit out of his comrade. Naruto smirked at his mental comment. He knew he could wipe the floor with Kakashi, and yet the idea didn't hold the feeling of satisfaction like it would if say Orochimaru was his opponent. "Oy, Cyclops."

Kakashi was taken back; he had never heard Naruto call him such a thing. If that's how this conversation was going to begin, then he dreaded how it was going to end. "You know Naruto; I'm kind of busy with some personal matters right now. I think it'd be best if you left me alone for a little while." Kakashi looked straight into his students eyes, if he couldn't intimidate the younger man, then he was going to get the upper hand as fast as possible. He didn't really want to fight with his student; the young man was one of his closest friends and allies. There had to be a way from not fighting.

"Kakashi, after last night, do you really think the Sharingan is going to work against me? Besides, I really don't want to fight you; it's just not right to beat up on the elderly!" Naruto laughed at his comment, he was hoping his humor would calm down the situation a bit. He never really thought of Kakashi as an old man anyway, since the Silver haired jonin was only about thirteen years older than him to begin with.

"You think that's funny Naruto? Do you even know why I'm mad at you?" Kakashi couldn't hold his anger. The Cyclops comment didn't ruffle him, but being called old infuriated him for some reason. He was shaking all over, he had never known himself to be so angry, and he couldn't figure out what it was that was getting to him so much.

"I was just trying to make you laugh, but I see humor isn't going to cut the tension between us. So right now we're going to training ground twenty five." Naruto turned towards the training ground and disappeared. Kakashi followed closely behind. The two of them didn't say much as they raced towards the distant training ground. This was going to turn into a fight, and both men were taking the time to plan out a strategy. Well Kakashi was coming up with a strategy, Naruto was thinking up ways to counter his team captain's moves. "We're almost there Kakashi, are we going to fight, or is this going to be a talk."

Kakashi just kept racing towards their destination. The time for talk had passed, and he knew it. Now they just had to duke it out until their problems came to the surface. "I think we're passed talking kid." Kakashi shot Naruto a glare as he said this. He knew they were going to do this, and he had to get his mind set. He was about to seriously fight his strongest student, a person that he knew he wouldn't be able to match in power.

The two men broke through the forest and landed on the outskirts of training ground twenty five. They slowly walked towards the fenced in area. Naruto was beginning to get excited. It wasn't every day that he was able to have a match against someone that could match against him. Sure Lee was always willing, but fighting the same person got old very quick, even if Lee did switch up his tactics now and then. Today was different though, he was fighting his first teacher, a man he had resented during his early teen years. Now he would be able to relieve that resentment and frustration he had built up over the years. "You know Kakashi; I'm not going to hold back against you now. Not after what you did last night." Naruto turned to his team leader and put his hands at his sides. "If you really want to do this I suggest you do the same. At that Naruto jumped the fence that surrounded the area.

Kakashi smiled to himself. This was exactly what he wanted. He didn't want his subordinate going easy on him, it was insulting. So today he was finally going to be able to see exactly what Naruto could do. Kakashi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, and jumped over the fence. This was going to be a tough battle, and he needed every advantage he could use. He caught up to Naruto and prepared himself for the upcoming fight. "I'm not going to hold back Naruto, which also means I'm going to use everything I can at my disposal."

Naruto turned to his friend with a smile on his face. His pupils had elongated into horizontal ovals, and a red pigmentation had formed around his eyes. "I wouldn't expect anything less sensei, but I'm going to let you know that I'm going to do the same." At that Naruto disappeared from sight.

Had it not been for the sharingan then Kakashi would never have been able to see where the young man had gone. However his eye wasn't able to predict the young man's movements. This put Kakashi on the defensive. He didn't know Naruto could go this fast, it was almost fast enough to confuse his eye. "So I see you've trained your speed. How long have you been training with Lee and Gai?" Kakashi knew that Naruto had trained with Lee, but to achieve this type of speed one would have to train with both the green beast, and the green leaf.

"About eight months now, you'd be surprised how fast you improve when you wear weights all the time. It's even more impressive when you wear weights that triple your body weight."

That comment shocked Kakashi. Triple one's body weight? That would mean that Naruto had been running around for a while weight about six hundred pounds. How could that have been possible? Wouldn't he have noticed such a thing? That's when it hit him. Naruto had been having problems recently with gauging the distance in his jumps during missions. He remembered the one time that Naruto had over jumped a tree limb by almost forty feet. 'So he was having problems adjusting between wearing the weights, and not wearing them.' Kakashi slapped himself for not noticing it before. His student had been improving himself right under his nose. "So what else have you been doing?" Kakashi disappeared from where he had been standing. If Naruto wanted to match him in speed, then he wasn't going to stand in one spot.

Naruto watched as his sensei matched his speed. 'Well looks like I'm going to get a good fight after all Naruto ducked as Kakashi threw a punch at his face. "Come on now Kakashi, you really think that's going to get me!" Naruto wasn't expecting the hit that got him in his back. He was sent sprawling to the ground. Once he recovered he noticed there were two Kakashi's coming at him. "Shadow clones? You know that's my specialty right?"

Kakashi was laughing. It wasn't a Shadow clone. He had attack Naruto with a plain clone, and waited for the younger man to duck the clones attack. That's how he was able to get him from behind. "No shadow clones here kid, just simple ninja tricks." Kakashi knew this wouldn't work against Naruto more than twice, so he had to start throwing out more attacks. He knew Naruto had a habit of conforming to combat in a heartbeat, so he wasn't going to give the younger jonin the chance to do that. Kakashi put some chakra into his hand and began to manipulate it to rotate at extreme speeds.

Naruto saw the attack forming. He knew it all too well. The rasengan, one of his father's creations. It was an incomplete technique, but could still be a devastating attack. Without thinking Naruto created a shadow clone. Once it popped into existence Naruto grabbed the clone and launched it full force straight into Kakashi. This effectively stopped the older jonin attack. There was however an unforeseen side effect. The quick expenditure of chakra nullified Naruto's absorption of natural chakra. He had pulled himself out of his sage mode in order to stop Kakashi's attack.

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Notes. A good point was brought up. in chapter 10 i said the reason for Naruto and Sakura breaking up would be explained in chapter 11. The reason for the break up thats coming up is because of the extended mission that Naruto is about to embark on. also just letting everyone know there is going to be a slight time skip coming up, i know i'm really messing with my own story, but this was planned from the begining


	13. Chapter 13

Sorry about the long absence. I had a virus on my computer and had to reformat my hard drive. The worst thing however is that afterwards I realized that I forgot to save my product key for Microsoft word, and was no longer able to use it.

Well now I feel like continuing my little epic story. To let everyone know I still have the original 12 chapters saved on my back up drive. But I do need help. I know how to represent the words Shadow of Nothing in Japanese katakana, but can someone please translate them into English style spelling, so I can write it out. I know shadow is kage, but I would like to know how to say shadow of nothing in Japanese. Ok now on to part 13 of the story.

* * *

Kakashi was stunned. Naruto had canceled out his attack with a small expenditure of chakra. He had in essence defeated one of the top ranked jutsu's with a simple shadow clone. This in itself wasn't important; it was the idea that Naruto had beaten the attack with barely a moment's hesitation. "So you're thinking on your feet faster than you used to kid. Don't let it get to you though; I know other jutsu's that you have never seen!" Kakashi began a complex series of hand seals. The speed at which he was performing them was out of this world, Naruto didn't even have time to watch the seals to make a proper counter before Kakashi had finished. The only thing Naruto had caught was a tiger seal.

'So, he's doing a fire attack Naruto thought to himself as he leapt back. He was putting a small distance between him and Kakashi. He wanted to have some time to react, but he wanted to make sure that the ability to react wasn't given to Kakashi. He was about thirty feet from the older jonin, when Kakashi launched his attack. It was nothing more than a grand fireball attack, but it was still fire, which meant he could be seriously injured if he made a mistake. Gathering his wind chakra in his hand Naruto began to form a futon Rasengan. It was simple for him to perform; he had perfected his techniques and could now make the rasengan one handed, or the rasen-shuriken.

Kakashi sent his fireball straight at Naruto. He didn't want to kill the young man, but he also didn't want the blonde jonin to forget who he was dealing with. The fireball made it way to Naruto's position, who surprisingly did not move from where he was standing. Kakashi was dumbfounded. Why did Naruto move? The fire ball could incinerate him, and do massive amounts of damage. So why did Naruto stand his ground? Was this a trick? Did he switch places with a clone? What was Naruto thinking?

His sporadic questions were answered when Naruto held out his right hand. Kakashi could see the attack, a Rasengan, no, a futon Rasengan. 'What are you trying to pull kid, you know better than anyone else that wind only fans flames and makes them stronger.' Kakashi's thoughts were worried. Naruto hadn't done something stupid like this in a long time. Staring down a fire attack while using one consisting of wind was just suicide. So why then was Naruto standing there with a confidant grin plastered to his face?

Kakashi's questions were answered as Naruto held his hand out, and pressed the Futon-Rasengan into the fireball. The small spinning ball of wind began to suck in the flames. Kakashi was stunned. The small sphere was soaking in all the flames and pulling them directly into Naruto's personal attack. The younger jonin was in essence empowering his own attack with Kakashi's. "So he's just using minimal amounts of his own chakra, and stealing my attacks to throw back at me." Kakashi hung his head. He knew no matter what he did he was going to be defeated. It wasn't a feeling he had when they began this fight, and now due to it his whole body slumped with the idea of defeat. 'This boy really has become something else.' Kakashi picked his head up just in time to see the last of his attack being sucked into Naruto's palm. It was unheard of; this kid had a counter for his attacks within seconds of him performing them.

Naruto just smiled, he saw Kakashi slump his shoulders in defeat. It was simple for him, counter Kakashi's attacks with the smallest amount of effort, and do it all without gloating. That was the hard part, something inside of him just wanted to ju8mp up and down screaming about how cool he was. He held back however, since he had seen the results of such behavior. Sometimes his foes would get even more depressed and quit the fight altogether, but on the rare occasion it made his opponent think harder, and put forth more effort in the hopes of defeating him. Naruto just stared at Kakashi; he wanted to attack the man so badly for what had transpired the night before, but he could not bring himself to harm his friend. So he did the next best thing he could think of. Naruto took his right palm and slammed it into the ground, releasing his attack.

The sight of it made Kakashi cringe. The Futon aspect had dug into the ground at an alarming rate, the fire then scorched everything within the blast radius. If he had been caught in the attack than he knew he'd be spending at least a month in traction. Leave it to Naruto to prove his strength and superiority in a fight, without showing off even one of his more powerful moves. Kakashi bent to one knee. He knew the fight was over, and now it was just time to admit it. "Naruto…" Kakashi hung his head, this whole act was shameful to himself, but after seeing how easily Naruto canceled his attacks he knew he was doing the right thing. "I yield Naruto. You win."

Naruto did smile however. He knew coming into it he would win, but he had wanted to at least make Kakashi's grunt in pain at least once. The older jonin had basically threatened Sakura, and that was just not going to be let go. On the other hand Naruto had been spurning his old teacher, and that wasn't right either. "Stand up Kakashi. You know better than anyone that you shouldn't act that way." Naruto approached the older jonin and put his hand out. Kakashi took it and let Naruto help him to his feet. The whole situation made him feel ashamed.

"Just tell me Naruto, why did you hold back during your jonin exam. That's all I want to know." Kakashi pulled his forehead protector back over his eye and waited for an answer. He wasn't expecting what Naruto would say.

"That's simple. If I went all out, the fight would have ended within seconds. I wanted to give you a chance, and also give the crowd watching a little show. I just figured you'd enjoy a prolonged bout. Besides I really didn't want anyone knowing what I could do while going at my full power. That's just not something you show to people who could be potential enemies." Naruto's train of thought made some sense, but something he said caught Kakashi's mind.

"Why wouldn't you show your full potential to your enemies? If they knew you were stronger wouldn't they give up before even trying to pick a fight?"

Naruto chuckled at the question. "Kakashi, didn't you know I was stronger than you before the fight began? And yet you still went through with it." Naruto laughed a little at the statement. It was true, Kakashi knew Naruto was stronger, yet he still got into the fight, because he believed he could fight with the younger man longer than they just had. Naruto nodded his head for a few seconds and then crossed his arms across his chest. "The idea is simple. By not fighting you at my fullest from the beginning, it put you at ease. Your speed and strength weren't at your fullest when we began. The moment I went to sage mode was when you decided to get completely serious. When I threw my clone at you and stopped your Rasengan I lost the ability to go into sage mode. Yet it didn't stop me from continuing the fight, because you assumed I could no longer put up as big a fight as before. Then the Futon-Rasengan absorbing your fireball attack put you on edge, because it showed you that my earlier disruption of your Rasengan wasn't a fluke, and was indeed me consciously putting a stop to your attack." Naruto paused and put his arms at his sides. "Now tell me this Sensei, would you have fought me knowing I could have done all that in a fight? Or would you have taken the time to be able to counter such thinking. The same question goes to our enemies. If they know what I can do, than they can come up with their own counters to it. Or they could train themselves to become stronger than me. By not showing my true power I mess with their minds because they don't know what to expect from me during a fight!"

Naruto's explanation rang true to Kakashi. If he had known just how strong Naruto was he wouldn't have provoked the younger man till he knew he at least stood on equal footing as him. But Naruto's unpredictable nature put him at a disadvantage, and he never even knew it. That was the only reason he had gone into the bout with his former student. He figured that he was at least near the younger mans level. This small bout was a rude awakening to the true gap in their strengths, and Naruto still hadn't shown his full potential. That above all else is what bothered Kakashi the most. "If you're not willing to show your full power though, doesn't that put you at risk of giving opponents the ability to use other means to defeat you, like a loved one, or a partner?" Kakashi really wanted to know the answer. He didn't want to think that Naruto would let an enemy kill one of his friends, just to protect his secrecy. If that was the case than Naruto was acting stupid just to keep his powers unknown.

"Not at all sensei. If they push it to that limit, than I can't be held responsible for how fast I end their life." This simple statement put Kakashi's mind at ease. It meant that Naruto would be willing to kill an enemy if they knowingly put one of his precious people at risk. "Well then, since we're done I have to tell you. We're going to leave tonight by six. Pack you gear for an extended mission, since I don't know when we'll be coming back. All I can tell you is it shouldn't be more than a two year excursion. Also our first stop is going to be Suna." Naruto perked up at this, it had been almost three months since he last saw Gaara, and he wanted to tell the Kazekage the good news in person. "We'll be there for a while Naruto. I'm going to teach you about diplomatic negotiations while we're there, and I'm sure Gaara would like to know your progress, since you'll be dealing with him on a professional level when we return."

Naruto nodded his head at the statement. It was true, if he was going to be the Rokudaime, he was going to have to learn how to handle himself in negotiations, and other things he deemed as stuffy old fart stuff. Yet he knew he'd have to be able to perform in these situations, and do it without embarrassing himself or the village.

Naruto waited to see if Kakashi had anything else to say. The older jonin just reached into his pocket and grabbed one of his ever present porn books. "Be at the east gate by six. We'll head out through there. Also, Tsunade wants to meet with you before you leave so go there now before she starts drinking away her aggravations." Kakashi waved his hand and then disappear in a cloud of smoke. Naruto almost laughed at the older jonins comment. Tsunade was well known for drinking if she had too much paper work, he also knew that to her two papers was considered extremely too many. He turned towards the center of the village and took off as fast as he could. 'Might as well get this all over with'

Tsunade had felt his chakra signature the minute he landed on her window sill. 'Why can't he use a door like a normal person' she thought to herself about how much his entrances had begun to remind her of Jiraiya, the boy's god-father, and pseudo grandfather. It brought a smile to her face, but she soon dropped it when other thoughts reached her mind. 'If he acts like this now, when will he start acting like a pervert?' Her thoughts were interrupted as the young blonde entered the room as quietly as possible. Tsunade could hold back her smile. Even if the brat was annoying, even if he had matured, he would still be that loud mouthed brash kid she met in a bar almost 6 years ago. Even after all that time he still wore her old necklace. That in itself reminded her that he had done two things no one had ever done before. Survived after being given the necklace, and changed her mind for the better. The latter was something that her former teammate had tried to do for years, and for years the man had been spurned.

The young man in front of her however was different. He was literally a mix of Minato, and Jiraiya, with all their good qualities, and none of their bad ones. However he had his own downsides. The boy was dense, he was loud, and he was brash. At the same time she had seen him use those qualities as benefits. His denseness has led to him never giving up in fights. His loud behavior was able to bring down peoples defenses, and has helped him forge many friendships. Above all his brash attitude has made him well known for being very unpredictable, and this quality has gotten him through years of shinobi life.

Her only real problem with the boy was his every constant self doubt. Sure he hid it with his loud behavior, but on numerous occasions the older female had seen the boy in extreme depressed states. He had often come to her in the past about problems that he felt he could never conquer. It had put her views about the young man into perspective, had made him almost godly in her eyes. Here was a young man who was completely sure of himself during a life and death battle, and yet he could do nothing but stutter when admitting feelings to a girl he liked. He was without a doubt the perfect mixture of strength and kindness. His whole demeanor was firm yet gentle, and it always had a way of putting her mind at ease.

"I'm here old lady!" Naruto half screamed at the older blond sitting in front of him, effectively shattering her admiration of the younger blonde. Naruto however just smirked at her. He knew she respected him, and he respected her as well. Bur some old habits just never die, and irritating his superiors would never get old to him. "Kakashi told me you wanted to see me granny, so get on with it."

Tsunade's only outward expression was her eyes squinting hard at the young man. She took her time, he wasn't going anywhere. As soon as Naruto closed his eyes to extend his smile to near impossible proportions she made her move. With a quick motion of her right fist the jonin was sprawled out on the floor. She had hit him dead square on the top of the head. The force of the punch had caused his knees to buckle and give out from under him. "I told you not to call me that you little brat!" She was fuming.

Naruto slowly pulled himself off the floor and slunk into a nearby chair. He knew their little spat was over. Now it was time to find out why he was summoned. "Ok, you win! Now tell me why I'm here, instead of enjoying my last few hours in the village?" Naruto never did pull his punches in his conversations with Tsunade. It was one of his bright spots to always be forward with his pseudo adoptive mother. He also learned from experience with the older kunoichi that if he wanted info he had to cut through the tape, so to speak.

Tsunade was prepared for what she had to tell the young man in front of her. She had been dreading this conversation for a few weeks now, but it had to be done, otherwise her plans to get him into the position of hokage would be for naught. "Listen Naruto. I named you my successor last night, I also told the populace of your heritage. Because of this I need you to leave the village for a small period of time; I told this to you last night." Naruto nodded at Tsunade's words, he remembered their quick talk last night, but hadn't really thought of it. Tsunade continued. "The reason you're leaving is two sided, first you need the skills to negotiate treaties, and interact with nobles and people like that. I can't do this for you because of the second reason you're leaving. Your father had many enemies, and the council feels that if you remain here in the village his enemies will come looking for you. So until you're ready to take control, they want you out of here. It sounds stupid it really does, but they're afraid that my choice of successor may create another war between villages, so they are trying to prevent us being dragged into a war by separating you from the populace." Tsunade had to admit, the idea was bogus, and how would removing Naruto solve any problem, if anything it escalated the issues, since their strongest shinobi wouldn't be on hand in case of an emergency.

Naruto however could see the brilliance in the plan. Don't involve the village, and keep their strength at max, while having his father's former enemies hunt him down away from the leaf. That way he himself could take care of the problems themselves without either interference, or distractions. There was just one problem, how far would this separation from the village go? "Umm, Tsunade, what all do I have to do while I'm gone besides stay away, and learn manners?"

Tsunade's stomach dropped. The boy had caught on way too quickly for her tastes. Sometimes she forgot that his simple minded personality was just an act, and this time that forgetfulness put her off. She had to explain the stipulations, but she didn't quite know how to do it. So she did it the only way Naruto would. She laid it all on the line. "The separation also goes to your personal life Naruto. You have to severe your ties with the village until you return. This means no contact with any shinobi from the leaf, that you instigate." Tsunade lowered her head a bit; she knew the next part was going to break the young man's heart. "Naruto, you have to end your relationship with Sakura."


	14. Chapter 14

Naruto couldn't understand this revelation for the life of him. Things had been going great for the last few months, he had earned the respect of most of the village, he was named as the next hokage, and he had advanced himself to a level not seen since the days of Sarutobi Hiruzen, or Namikaze Minato. Let alone the fact that he had made his way through the ninja ranks, and had become a Jonin, an ANBU captain, and also a master of Fuinjutsu. So why now of all times was his happiness being taken away from him? "That's Bullshit hag! Nothing more than bullshit!" Naruto couldn't stop himself.

"How can you expect me to turn my back on Sakura-chan, and on top of that deny having any sort of relationship with her?" Naruto was being torn. This situation had him reeling, and Tsunade knew she had to stop him now, before anything happened.

Tsunade placed her hands under her chin, and rested her elbows on the desk in front of her. She knew the only way to placate her favorite shinobi. "Naruto, I'm not doing this to hurt you, or to break up you and my apprentice. But you have to understand that what I am doing is exactly what your father did for you and Kushina." Tsunade looked straight into Naruto's eyes. She had to make him understand that what she was doing wasn't for his protection, but for Sakura. "If it comes to light to the rock-nin, that you have a woman waiting for you here in Konoha, then they may attack her to get to you, just because you are the son of Minato." She stood up and walked around her desk. There were tears in her eyes as she leaned down to embrace Naruto. "Do you really think me so callous as to make you and Sakura end your relationship without reason? I would never willingly take away the happiness that the two of you have found, but in this case I must demand that you do this one thing for me." Tsunade looked down to see the reaction on Naruto's face, she was surprised however to see him with a look of understanding.

"I guess I never thought of it like that. I never would have thought that tousans enemies might take revenge on me, let alone Sakura-chan." Naruto embraced the elder blonde as he continued to talk. "It's just not right; I haven't done anything wrong to them, why should she be targeted for what my father did?" Naruto's question wasn't really asked to be answered, but more for his opinion to be heard.

"To answer that, why did the villagers hate you for being the jailor of the Kyuubi? It's an irrational fear that propagates intense feelings in people. The nin of rock may think that you may become just like your father. If that's the case then I don't want Sakura to be involved." Tsundae pulled away from the young man and looked down to him again. "I also don't want you involved, but you really do need to master your techniques, and your manners. That way you can at least seem professional when you take my job." Tsunade put her hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his hair like she did when he was a teenager. "Just remember, you have as much time as you need for this trip, but don't take too long, some people would rather you stay."

Naruto nodded his head. As soon as the elder blondes hand left his hair he stood from his chair. The situation couldn't be worse for him. He had to leave the village again, only this time it wasn't of his own choosing. Let alone the fact that he had to cut ties with his own girlfriend. This was going to be hard and he knew it. Naruto reached into his pocket and removed a box. He placed the small container on Tsunade's desk. "I know this sounds depressing Baa-chan, but if I don't come back within a year I want you to hand that parcel to Sakura, and tell her I love her with all my heart." After removing his hand from the box Naruto disappeared from the hokages office with a puff of white smoke.

Tsunade opened the small box and had her breath taken away. Inside was a small silver ring with five gems in it. All the gems were topaz, one pink, one blue, one green, one orange, and a diamond. "He must have picked topaz for its variety in colors" The colors coincided with the main colors of each founding member of team seven, pink for Sakura, blue for Sasuske, green for Kakashi, and orange for Naruto. The diamond rested in the center. It was clear that this was an engagement ring. "After only six months he already has a ring picked out for her." Tsunade's heart broke in her chest. She knew what she was asking of Naruto was tough, but now it was heart breaking for her to know exactly what the boy had planned on doing.

Else where Naruto returned to his house. He knew deep down that the concerns Tsunade had voiced were true, but it still hurt him none the less. How was he supposed to end his relationship when it had barely started? Let alone how was he supposed to start it back up when he returned to the leaf when the trip was over.

The question burned through his mind. He knew he had to do it, but how was he going to do such a thing?

On the other side of town Kakashi had begun packing his things. If he knew Naruto, the kid was going to want to leave as soon as possible, so the older jonin wanted to prepare himself for their trip. It was sure going to be a long one for him as well, seeing as he had no new reading material, ever since Jiraiya had died his thirst for icha icha had dried up, since no new book would be written by his favorite author. Nor did he want to burden Naruto by constantly reminding the boy about his deceased godfather. That was just in poor taste if he did such a thing. The older man looked out his window at the monument in the distance. His eyes landing on the depiction of his former master. 'Why would I want to remind him of something he lost, when others try their best not to remind me?' Kakashi's thoughts were directed at the face of the fourth hokage, and his former sensei. 'These next few months are going to be tough, for both of us'.

Naruto had decided to get it over with as soon as possible. He knew that waiting would only make matters worse for him, and he also knew that he could not bear to know that Sakura would be in danger if he didn't comply. He was running along the roof tops at breakneck speed, heading directly for Sakura's apartment. Along the way he decided to tell her the exact reasoning for the entire situation, and hoped that she would be understanding of his position.

He hadn't expected for Sakura to be entertaining a few friends, namely Ino and Hinata. This situation put him at odds with what he had come to do. Here he was about to break Sakura's heart, and now to add to it her two best friends were right there with her. If his day could get any worse he didn't want to know. With one last swallow to remove the lump in his throat Naruto approached Sakura's door. He knew she would invite him in, but he wouldn't be able to enter the door way. What he was about to do would kill him inside, and he didn't want to do that in front of her two friends. This was really going to suck.

He knocked twice on her door, and hung his head as he heard the light footsteps on the other side. He wasn't too surprised when Ino answered the door. He had felt her chakra signature and Hinatas from the rooftops before he had made it to this point. "Naruto, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting ready for your trip?" Ino, ever vigilant in knowing other people's business. He couldn't back down though. In his mind he figured this would be better, her two friends could be there to comfort her in case things went downhill.

"Sorry to interrupt Ino-chan, but I really need to talk to Sakura-chan before I leave tonight, would you mind asking her to talk to me outside, in private?"


	15. Chapter 15

The anticipation was killing him. Here he was standing outside of Sakura's apartment, quite literally about to shatter something that had taken years for him to build. Sure the two had issues growing up, what with her abusing him both physically and verbally, but none of that mattered to him. Naruto knew that Sakura had just been a young girl, and the last few years proved to him that she had changed. No longer did she smack him for calling their former team mate a bastard, nor did she yell and call him an idiot when he had trouble verbalizing his emotions. No, she had come to understand that he had trouble speaking his mind, let alone show his true self in front of the people he considered his friends.

Yet here he was, about to sever his emotional ties with the girl of his dreams, and for what? The false promise that she would be safe without an intimate connection to him. Yet an order was still an order, and he couldn't refuse Tsunades words, no matter how much he disagreed with them. With his resolve finally found he lifted his head and waited for his rosette friend to come outside.

Sakura walked to her front door. She wasn't surprised Naruto would be here, since he was about to leave on an indefinite trip. She was however surprised that he would ask for her to speak with him outside, and not in her apartment. Maybe this had to deal with the conversation that she had with Tsunade not more than an hour earlier.

FLASHBACK

Tsunade had requested that Sakura come to her office as soon as her shift at the hospital had ended. It wasn't often that the hokage requested Sakura's presence at the tower, the elder blonde tended to hunt down her apprentice at the hospital where she spent most of her time. So Sakura knew it had to be something important. As she approached the door to Tsunades office a wave of dread washed over her. What if Tsunade asked her to come here for reasons that had to deal with Naruto and herself? It was no secret that the elder members of the council despised their relationship, since he was the kyubi jinchuriki. Others however felt that their relationship was long overdue.

Sakura centered her emotions and entered her teacher's office. The mood was sad as Tsunade had her head down, and seemed to be deep in thought. Sakura knew that whatever she was about to be told was definitely going to affect her and Naruto. She was however shocked when Tsunade raised her head and began talking. "Sakura, take a seat. We need to talk."

Sakura bowed to her master and took a seat across the desk from the reigning hokage. "Master, may I ask what this is all about?" Sakura stares directly at Tsunade, trying to see if she might be able to get information out of the elder female's body movement. This however proved to be futile since Tsunades first reaction was to reach for a Sake bottle. 'Well that's not out of the ordinary. Shisou tends to drink heavily in the afternoon.'

Tsunade knew very well what her apprentice was trying to do. Get information any way she can. Tsunade laughed inside her head. 'I taught this girl well. She knows something is up, and wants to get all the info she can from me. Too bad I can't give her everything she wants.' Tsunade grabbed two saucers and filled them with sake. "Sakura, we're going to drink together, and I will tell you everything I can, but before I do I must tell you that everything I say here is between you and I. At least until Naruto steps up and does his part."

That last statement had Sakura on edge. What was her boyfriend planning? Was he going to ask her to marry him? That thought brought a blush to her cheeks. Sure she loved Naruto, and wanted to be with only him, but such a step would be rushing things for the two of them, especially since they had as of yet made love with each other. Of course they had made out, and done other things, but the two had never moved into the realm of lovers. This was one aspect of their relationship that Sakura both adored, and hated. Sure not rushing things was nice, but sometimes she just wished Naruto would take her and fulfill her every fantasy. Again a blush rose on her face that wasn't missed by Tsunade.

"Sakura, I don't know what you're thinking, but if you don't get rid of that look I'm going to put you through a wall just like I used to do to Jiraiya." Sakura realized she had been caught fantasizing about her boyfriend, something that was becoming more and more frequent. How was it not going to, they're eighteen, and he had still not tried to pull any moves on her besides making out, and a little foreplay. It was getting aggravating that he wasn't ready to step up to the next level when she obviously wanted to be with him.

"Sorry master. I didn't mean to get lost in my thoughts." Sakura sunk her head out of embarrassment. "Please continue." Sakura looked straight into Tsunade's eyes with a pleading and curious expression on her face. It was quite obvious she wanted to know everything her mentor was about to tell her.

"Sakura, what I can tell you now is going to break your heart. As you know Naruto has come a long way from his days as a genin. Within weeks of his defeat of the Akatsuki he was promoted to chunin. If I had my way he would have skipped ahead to jonin. Also you know I want him to be my successor as hokage. What you don't know is that as of this morning the council has approved of my decision with a unanimous vote. Uzumaki Naruto will be the rokudaime!" Tsunade turned he chair slightly to look out across the village, she took a sip from her saucer of sake and continued to speak. "There was however one condition for this decision. Naruto must leave the village in order for us to finally rebuild everything from the fight with Pein. It has taken years, and we're still only three fourths of the way rebuilt." Tsunade turned back to her former apprentice and lowered her voice. "With the knowledge of who His parents are it was the councils thought that our decision may erupt a way with either the Raikage, or the Tsuchikage. It is because of this fear that Naruto will be taking another extended training trip. We're telling him it's for his best interest so he can learn proper manners, and negotiation tactics to use with other villages. The truth is the council wants him to go to our allied villages to not only improve his political standing with them, but to take the pressure off of us if there is in fact a plot to attack him." Tsunade poured herself another drink and took a sip. "Because of their decision I have added one of my own, and that is the reason you're here now. Today before he leaves, Naruto is going to explain to you about his trip. I am ordering you to end your relationship with him for the duration of the trip."

Sakura was shocked. Here she was sitting in front of her long time teacher, the person closest to her boyfriend besides herself, and the woman had just told her to end her relationship with the boy who had loved her since their early days in the academy. It wasn't right; it was an impossible order, something she just couldn't bring herself to do. "Master, I can't go through with this order, it's not right. Naruto and I are too close for me to do such a thing." Sakura's temper was flaring, how dare Tsunade make such an outrageous demand of her, it just wasn't right. "I won't do it, and there is no way you're going to make me do such a thing to him!" Sakura let her anger get the best of her as she smashed her fist into the desk in front of her.

Tsunade however was not surprised at her student's reaction. She was well aware of how close the two had become. It reminded her of the old days between herself and Jiraiya after Dan had died. In those few weeks Jiraiya had single handedly brought her out of her funk, and she had almost fell in love with the pervert. Yet when the defection of her third team mate became known she herself was ordered by the third to remove herself from her current relationship with the toad sage. It wasn't something she did with ease, and led to her leaving Konoha. Yet she also knew deep in her heart had she not followed the thirds orders Jiraiya would never have set up his spy network, and become one of the best information gatherers the world had ever seen. The situation in front of her was almost the same; if Sakura and Naruto remained together Naruto would never be able to focus on his duties towards becoming the Rokudaime.

"Sakura, I do know how you feel, but this isn't a request, and it's in the best interest for the village, and Naruto. If the two of you are no longer together he will not be distracted from his duties in the other villages. If it's any consolation, when he returns to take over my position the two of you can reunite, but until that day I need you to do this for me."

Tsunade awaited her apprentices answer. She folded her hands and put her chin on them, her eyes were pleading with Sakura to acquiesce to this order. She didn't have to wait long, as she saw the defeated look in Sakura's eyes.

Sakura for her part put her head down and began to cry. This wasn't fair, but for the sake of the village she had to do it. Naruto was going to hate her for this when he found out, but it had to be done. "I'll do it master, but I won't like it. I just lost a lot of respect for the council, and you. This decision is outrageous." Sakura stood up, grabbed the sake saucer in front of her and downed the drink. She turned to leave. When she reached the door she turned to her mentor. "If he hates me for this when he returns, I will hold you personally responsible for this master." With that Sakura left the room.

END FLASHBACK

Naruto's decision to talk outside helped a bit, since she wouldn't have to run to another room after she ended their relationship, but it didn't make the matter any better. She was about to break his heart, and she knew they were both going to hate her for it.

Naruto began the conversation, explaining what he was told to tell her, the extended absence, the reason he has to leave, and the fact that it was him and Kakashi going this time. Throughout all of it Sakura's stomach began to tie itself in knots. The dreaded moment was approaching her faster and faster. She finally broke down when Naruto asked her a simple question. "Sakura, I know this is going to be tough, but will you wait for me? Or do you want to move on?" There it was, Naruto putting others before himself. Just like always he couldn't bring himself to be selfish. It just wasn't in his nature, and Sakura knew that. Yet she was dying inside, but she had to do it.

She looked him straight in the eyes with tears running down her face. The moment had come, and she had to fulfill her orders. "I'm sorry Naruto, but I don't think I can wait that long, you could be gone for a month, and if that was the case then I could. But you could be gone for two to three years, and I can't wait around for you to return, I'm sorry, but I won't wait." With that said she turned her back to him and began to cry. She was trying to make an effort to hide her sadness, but the trembling wasn't stopping.

True to his nature Naruto didn't make a scene. He just bowed his head and placed a small package behind Sakura's trembling form. He stood and took a step back. "If I'm not back in a year I want you to open that box and return what's inside it to Tsunade." With that Naruto disappeared from sight.

Sakura turned around and looked at the package. She bent down and picked it up. Upon opening it she saw the pieces that remained of Naruto's necklace. The one given to him by Tsunade. The implications of his gesture broke Sakura's heart even more. To her he had said that if he wasn't back in a year then the necklaces curse would have been fulfilled. The implications made her drop to her knees. Naruto had told her without talking that if he hadn't returned within a year then he was probably dead.


End file.
